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COPVR1GHT DEPOSIT. 



Methods With 
Beginners 



BY 

FRANCES WELD DANIELSON 



A Textbook in the Standard Course in Teacher 

Training, Outlined and Approved by the 

Sunday School Council of Evangelical 

Denominations. 



THIRD YEAR SPECIALIZATION SERIES 



Printed for the 

Teacher Training Publishing Association 

by 

THE PILGRIM PRESS 

BOSTON 



C i 



$3X 



Copyright 1921 
By FRANCES WELD DANIELSON 



©CI.A624413 
SEP 17 1921 

"He 1 



SUNDAY SCHOOL COUNCIL STANDARD COURSE 

IN TEACHER TRAINING 
Beginners' and Primary Units 

Nos. i and 3 separate for each department. Periods 

1. Specialized Child Study 

(Beginners' and Primary Age) 10 

2. Stories and Story Telling 10 

3. Beginners' and Primary Methods 20 

Including Practice Teaching and Observation. 

40 
Junior Units 

1. Specialized Child Study (Junior age) 10 

2. Christian Conduct for Juniors 10 

3. Junior Teaching Materials and Methods 10 

4. Organization and Administration of the Junior 

Department 10 

40 
Intermediate, Senior and Young People's Units 
Separate for each department. 

1. Study of the Pupil 10 

2. Agencies of Religious Education 10 

3. Teaching Materials and Methods 10 

4. Organization and Administration of the Depart- 

ment 10 

40 
General Course on Adolescence. Same subjects 
as above but covering the entire period 12-24 
in each unit. 
Adult Units 

1. Psychology of Adult Life 10 

2. The Religious Education of Adults 10 

3. Principles of Christian Service 10 

4. Organization and Administration of the Adult 

Department 10 

40 

Administrative Units 

1. Outline History of Religious Education 10 

2. The Educational Task of the Local Church 10 

3. The Curriculum of Religious Education 10 

4. Problems of Sunday School Management 10 

40 
Full information regarding any of these units will be fur- 
nished by denominational publishers on application. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

SPECIALIZATION COURSES IN TEACHER 
TRAINING 

In religious education, as in other fields of construc- 
tive endeavor, specialized training is today a badge of 
fitness for service. Effective leadership presupposes 
special training. For teachers and administrative offi- 
cers in the church school a thorough preparation and 
proper personal equipment have become indispensable 
by reason of the rapid development of the Sunday- 
school curriculum, which has resulted in the wide- 
spread introduction and use of graded courses, in the 
rapid extension of departmental organization and in 
greatly improved methods of teaching. 

Present-day standards and courses in teacher train- 
ing give evidence of a determination on the part of the 
religious educational forces of North America to pro- 
vide an adequate training literature, that is, properly 
graded and sufficiently thorough courses and text- 
books to meet the growing need for specialized train- 
ing in this field. Popular as well as professional in- 
terest in the matter is reflected in the constantly in- 
creasing number of training institutes, community and 
summer training schools, and college chairs and depart- 
ments of religious education. Hundreds of thousands 
of young people and adults, distributed among all the 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



Protestant Evangelical churches and throughout every 
state and province, are engaged in serious study, in 
many cases including supervised practice teaching, 
with a view to preparing for service as leaders and 
teachers of religion or of increasing their efficiency in 
the work in which they are already engaged. 

Most of these students and student teachers are pur- 
suing some portion of the Standard Course of Teacher 
Training prepared in outline by the Sunday School 
Council of Evangelical Denominations for all the 
Protestant churches in the United States and Canada. 
This course calls for a minimum of one hundred and 
twenty lesson periods including in fair educational 
proportion the following subjects: 

(a) A survey of Bible material, with special refer- 
ence to the teaching values of the Bible as meeting the 
needs of the pupil in successive periods of his develop- 
ment. 

(b) A study of the pupil in the varied stages of his 
growing life. 

(c) The work and methods of the teacher. 

(d) The Sunday school and its organization and 
management. 

The course is intended to cover three years with a 
minimum of forty lesson periods for each year. Fol- 
lowing two years of more general study provision for 
specialization is made in the third year, with separate 
studies for Administrative Officers, and for teachers 
of each of the following age groups : Beginners (under 
6); Primary (6-8); Junior (9-11); Intermediate 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



(12-14) ; Senior (15-17) ; Young People (18-24) and 
Adults (over 24). A general course on Adolescence 
covering more briefly the whole period (12-24) is also 
provided. Thus the Third Year Specialization of 
which this textbook is one unit, provides for nine 
separate courses of forty lesson periods each. 

Which of these nine courses is to be pursued by any 
student or. group of students will be determined by 
the particular place each expects to fill as teacher, 
supervisor or administrative officer in the church 
school. Teachers of Junior pupils will study the four 
units devoted to the Junior Department. Teachers of 
young people's classes will choose between the general 
course on Adolescence or the course on Later Adoles- 
cence. Superintendents and general officers in the 
school will study the four Administrative units. Many 
will pursue several courses in successive years thus 
adding to their specialized equipment each year. On 
another page of this volume will be found a complete 
outline of the Specialization Courses arranged by de- 
partments. 

A program of intensive training as complete as that 
outlined by the Sunday School Council necessarily in- 
volves the preparation and publication of an equally 
complete series of textbooks covering no less than 
thirty-six separate units. Comparatively few of the 
denominations represented in the Sunday School 
Council are able independently to undertake so large 
a program of textbook production. It was natural, 
therefore, that the denominations which together had 



8 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



determined the general outlines of the Standard 
Course should likewise cooperate in the production of 
the required textbooks. Such cooperation, moreover. 
was necessary in order to command the best available 
talent for this important task, and in order to insure 
the success of the total enterprise. Thus it came about 
that the denominations represented in the Sunday 
School Council, with a few exceptions, united in the 
syndicate production of the entire series of Specializa- 
tion units for the Third Year. 

A little more than two years have been required for 
the selection of writers, for the careful advance 
coordination of their several tasks and for the actual 
production of the first textbooks. A substantial num- 
ber of these are now available. They will be followed 
in rapid succession by others until the entire series for 
each of the nine courses is completed. 

The preparation of these textbooks has proceeded 
under the supervision of an editorial committee repre- 
senting all the cooperating denominations. The pub- 
lishing arrangements have been made by a similar com- 
mittee of denominational publishers likewise represent- 
ing all the cooperating churches. Together the Edi- 
tors, Educational Secretaries and Publishers have or- 
ganized themselves into a voluntary association for the 
carrying out of this particular task, under the name 
Teacher Training Publishing Association. The actual 
publication of the separate textbook units is done by 
the various denominational Publishing Houses in ac- 
cordance with assignments made by the Publishers' 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



Committee of the Association. The enterprise as a 
whole represents one of the largest and most signifi- 
cant ventures which has thus far been undertaken in 
the field of interdenominational cooperation in re- 
ligious education. The textbooks included in this 
series, while intended primarily for teacher-training 
classes in local churches and Sunday schools, are ad- 
mirably suited for use in interdenominational and 
community classes and training schools. 

This particular volume entitled Methods With 
Beginners is one of four specialization units for 
the beginners' department. It presents in an interest- 
ing and readable style an unusually complete study of 
the methods of work to be used in this department. 
Observation and practice work form an important part 
of the course. The other units in this series deal with 
(i) Specialized Child Study and (2) Stories and Story 
Telling. These three text-books provide a remarkably 
comprehensive and valuable training course for teach- 
ers and officers in the Beginners' Department of the 
church school. 

For the Teacher Training Publishing Association, 
HENRY H. MEYER, 

Chairman Editorial Committee. 
SIDNEY A. WESTON, 
Editor, Congregational Publishing Society. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 11 

LESSON I 

OFFICERS, TEACHERS, AND CHILDREN 

Within rather wide limits the child now has control over 
his mental life independent of things and persons. He is also 
introduced at this time to a wider physical and social environ- 
ment than that of the home. It is, therefore, preminently a 
period for more complete mental reorganization and the 
development of the human personality into an individual per- 
sonality. — E. A. Kirkpatrick, in The Individual in the Making. 

Teaching methods. — Most students enter upon a 
course in teaching methods with a sense of under- 
taking something mechanical, like running a machine. 
This is a false expectation. Children are not ma- 
chines, to be run. They are personalities, to be de- 
veloped. Machines are uniform. Children are indi- 
vidual. The teaching method to which one child 
responds may have no effect upon another, and must 
be modified or abandoned. 

A student of teaching methods, therefore, need not 
look forward to memorizing a set of rules, which will 
be applied according to directions. She will have to 
exercise judgment and discernment and choice in the 
use of any teaching methods with her particular group 
of children and with the various members of the group. 

Forget, for a moment, that you are a student, and 
simply look at four interesting pictures. 

The first picture. — The first picture is a semi- 
circle of six children four and five years old and 



12 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

their teacher. A screen hung with pictures makes the 
circle complete. The teacher speaks of two absent 
ones, and with the children counts to six. She writes 
"Six" on a bit of paper and tells a child to put it and 
the basket of pennies that have been collected on a 
stand outside the door, ready for the school secretary. 
The little group gather about the piano, and while 
the teacher plays they sing together. Informal con- 
versation, prayers, blackboard work, pantomime, refer- 
ences to pictures and story-telling follow one another 
naturally and delightfully. The teacher then gives out 
folders containing the story, helps with refractory 
buttons and tight rubbers, and says good-by to each 
child in the line that passes out. As she puts a small 
purse on the "Lost Articles" shelf of the closet she 
takes down her record book, marks the attendance, 
makes a note of a birthday that falls the next week, 
and empties the birthday bank. 

This is a picture of a Beginners' Department. 
Though very small, it has the essential elements — 
children and a teacher. As you have seen, this teacher 
easily combines the offices of superintendent, secretary, 
treasurer, and pianist. 

The second picture. — In the second picture little 
children flock into a Beginners' room. A screen be- 
tween door and chairs hides the newcomers from those 
already seated, who are eagerly engaged in conversa- 
tion with their teacher. These newcomers are not 
neglected. An assistant removes their wraps and 
collects the pennies. She makes the shy children feel 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 13 

at home, and persuades any who are inclined to be 
boisterous to take their places quietly. When it is 
time to begin thirty small chairs are filled. The assis- 
tant takes her place at the piano and by a soft melody 
induces an atmosphere of quiet expectation. She then 
starts a greeting song, and while the children shake 
hands, leaves the piano to usher some visitors to their 
seats without attracting attention. She is back again 
at her post, ready for the opening prayer, and has the 
basket of money on the teacher's table, in time for the 
offering service. Her watchword is "alertness," for, 
though she has the teacher's program, she knows that 
the attitude and remarks of the children will alter it. 
A card on the piano contains titles and numbers of 
familiar songs, so she is prepared for any child's choice. 
Occasionally she starts a song that fits into the thought 
of the hour. She finds time to put the offering and 
attendance records outside for the school secretary. 
She does not make out her own records till after the 
session, as she is much too interested in the lesson. 
Besides, her records include not merely attendance but 
causes for absence, home conditions, and plans for 
keeping in touch with the children. In addition to the 
duties already mentioned, she is ready to distribute 
paper, crayons, or other material, and provide damp 
cloths to wipe chalk-stained fingers. At the close of 
the session she gives out the folders, helps with the 
wraps, and sends home folders to absent pupils by 
brothers and sisters. 

In the second picture you see a Beginners' Depart- 



14 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



ment large enough to require an assistant, who is com- 
bined secretary, treasurer, and pianist. The offices of 
secretary and treasurer are, however, minor portions 
of her task during the session. It is more important 
for her to follow the program with appreciation and 
protect teacher and children from interruptions. She 
is quick to detect and remedy poor ventilation. She 
does not allow the teacher to be disturbed by late 
pupils, or the program to be retarded by her delay in 
finding the expected song. The teacher would feel 
lost without her, and yet is scarcely aware of her — the 
curious attitude one has toward those who are indis- 
pensable. 

Occasionally this picture includes a mother or young 
girl who assists often enough to keep in touch with 
the department and serve as assistant when the regular 
assistant substitutes for the teacher. 

The third picture. — The third picture is of a 
double semicircle of sixty children. We see a pianist 
who remains at the piano, for there are two other 
assistants. One acts as secretary and one as treasurer. 
They do not allow these duties to absorb their attention. 
Much of their work is done after the session. They 
greet the children, help in removing wraps, collect the 
pennies, seat visitors, distribute supplies and folders, 
attend to proper ventilation, and save the teacher from 
interruptions. Any spare moments they may have are 
not spent in counting the offering or computing the 
average attendance. They are too much absorbed in 
the program for this. They realize that unnecessary 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 15 

tiptoeing about the room, or putting a cabinet in order, 
or whispered colloquies interfere seriously with the 
atmosphere of the room. The teacher often tells them 
that she can forgive duties neglected because of inter- 
est in the program far better than close attention to 
petty details that makes them oblivious of it ; that there 
is a certain atmosphere that can be maintained only 
when pianist, assistants and visitors listen to the story 
she tells, enjoy the songs and appreciate the children's 
responses. 

A Cradle Roll class of twelve children three years 
old is an adjunct to this department, although it meets 
in a separate room. 

The fourth picture. — The fourth picture is in two 
parts. One part shows a Beginners' Department con- 
sisting of two Beginners' rooms, each with fifty chil- 
dren, divided according to age. The entire depart- 
ment numbers one hundred. 

The second part pictures another department of one 
hundred, in which all the children meet together, in a 
double semicircle, for the opening service and a short 
portion of the circle talk. After this they divide into 
three smaller circles, separated by screens, for the 
remainder of the circle talk and the story period, and 
two of the assistants teach. In this case there are a 
superintendent, two other teachers, who are also secre- 
tary and treasurer, a pianist and two additional assis- 
tants. Each person has a certain number of children 
for whose presence she is responsible, and at whose 



16 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



homes she calls. A Cradle Roll class is provided for 
the little children under four. 

In every case, had you glanced into the room a half 
hour before the session, you would have found one 6r 
more assistants present to guide early comers to a 
table on which lay interesting scrapbooks, paper, and 
crayons. 

The atmosphere. — These pictures have shown 
that the success of a Beginners' Department depends 
in great measure upon its homelikeness, and any organ- 
ization which obtrudes itself defeats this end. In its 
simplest form it is a little group of children gathered 
about a teacher for religious nurture. Where its size 
demands a larger teaching corps, its informal and sym- 
pathetic atmosphere is still guarded. The word 
"teacher" has been used instead of "superintendent" to 
emphasize this informality, and because it is customary 
for the superintendent to teach. This can be done, as 
the department is not divided into classes, but all meet 
together with a common lesson. Occasionally a woman 
with executive rather than teaching ability superin- 
tends the department, and the teacher as well as assis- 
tants are under her supervision. 

The assistants. — It may seem strange that in 
these pictures the assistants have been painted most 
distinctly, when, after all, they belong in the back- 
ground. This is their one opportunity for prominence, 
as hereafter in the chapters that deal with the program 
the teacher will be the central figure — the teacher, and 
her children. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 17 



This question may arise : Who are these assistants, 
and how are they secured? In several cases they are 
young girls who like little children, and who have 
become so interested in the work in this department 
that they plan to become teachers. Others are already 
members of a training class, and get observation and 
practice here. Still others are mothers, who at first 
accompanied shy children, became fascinated and 
gladly serve as assistants. 

The ideal teacher. — The first chapter is not com- 
plete without a sketch of a Beginners' teacher. She 
has two necessary qualifications — love of children and 
love of God. If she is a girl, she is one who has 
not only enthusiasm but the capacity for infinite 
patience. If she is an older woman, she is one 
who has kept a child's heart. Frequently she is a 
mother. Her fitness, however, does not depend upon 
actual motherhood, but upon the maternal spirit, which 
is occasionally lacking in mothers and sometimes 
found in one unmarried. Her love of God is colored 
with the missionary spirit, that craves this love for her 
children. She appreciates little children's limitations 
and sees their possibilities. Her keen sympathy with 
their point of view is coupled with a vision of the part 
religion should play in their lives. 

Is this a discouragingly idealistic portrait? It should 
not be, for the Beginners' teacher often has at first 
only the two prime characteristics, and her portrait is 
completed by those to whom she is closely drawn — 
her children and God. 



18 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

The children. — But the children themselves, for 
whom the department exists — whence do they come? 

If the department is newly organized, they are the 
young children who were a misfit in the Primary De- 
partment. This class of little children was formed 
no more for their sakes than to protect the older chil- 
dren from their disconcerting presence. Now that the 
class is started others will join. 

If the department has been in existence for some 
time, the membership does not consist of little chil- 
dren dropped from a higher department, but of Cradle 
Roll members who have reached the age of four, and 
whose superintendent has notified the Beginners' 
teacher of this fact. Occasionally a group of these 
Cradle Roll graduates is promoted at the annual Pro- 
motion Day. More frequently they enter one by one 
at any time during the year when they are considered 
old enough. Where there is a Cradle Roll class for 
children three years old, they are promoted at the end 
of one year. 

It is almost impossible to leave this topic without 
speaking of the charm of the children, for most of 
whom entrance into the Beginners' Department is 
their first venture from home. However, a picture of 
a little child is as inadequate as one of a fragrant rose- 
bud, the more so because yesterday's picture would not 
be to-day's, nor to-day's to-morrow's. It is enough 
to say that to teach little, changing children is to one 
who loves them a constant delight spiced with unex- 
pected discoveries. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 19 

Questions 

i. What constitutes a Beginners' Department in its 
simplest form? 

2. Who in addition to the teacher is needed in a 
department of thirty, and what are her duties ? 

3. Picture a department of sixty. 

4. Describe two methods of conducting a depart- 
ment of one hundred. 

5. Upon what kind of atmosphere does the success 
of a Beginners' Department depend? 

6. How are assistants procured? 

7. Give a sketch of the ideal Beginners' teacher. 

Problems for Discussion 

A. Whether to form a Beginners' Department 
with only four children four and five years of age.. 

B. The wisdom of starting a Beginners' Depart- 
ment without a trained teacher. 

C. Allowing assistants practice in teaching. 



20 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



LESSON II 
THE ROOM AND ITS FURNISHINGS 

The mind of a child is intensely concrete. He lives in a 
world of perceptions, rather than of thought. Round-eyed, 
quick to hear and eager to touch, he is busy absorbing the 
world about him. — Luther A. Weigle, in The Pupil. 

Little children's surroundings. — In our first chap- 
ter you were asked to look at four pictures. They were 
moving pictures of teachers and children. I am curi- 
ous to know whether you gave any thought to their 
environment, and whether you would examine as care- 
fully four pictures of vacant Beginners' rooms. I 
doubt it. Interest in living beings transcends interest 
in walls and furnishings. 

To be sure, there are surroundings that refuse to be 
mere background. There is the brilliant tinting that 
announces itself loudly. There is the row of grave, 
ministerial faces on the wall that offers an odd con- 
trast to the fresh faces in the circle below. There are 
massive adult furnishings that crowd the children, and 
large-flowered carpets that call attention away from 
small feet. There are stained-glass figures that absorb 
the light which should be cast on childish ones, and 
large pictures that make one lose sight of the living 
child portraits. 

Museums, picture galleries, ladies' parlors or prayer- 
meeting rooms are not nurseries. The Beginners' 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 21 

room is the nursery of the church, where the spiritual 
life of her little children is fostered. Let the interests 
of children themselves determine what sort of place 
it shall be. 

Location and floor. — To their room they come 
trooping — not upstairs, lest they stumble, nor down- 
stairs, lest they lose the sunlight. Now, a room con- 
sists of walls, a floor, ceiling, doors, windows, and air. 
Suppose we consider the children's relations to all 
these. Shall their floor be covered with a carpet? 
Unless the janitor service is unusual, this will be a 
cause of dust-laden air, for they do not step lightly. 
Shall it be a waxed floor ? If it is, there will be many 
a hurt to soothe, for they do not step carefully. No ; 
let them cross a hard-wood border to a thick, soft- 
tinted rug that dulls their footsteps and forms a fitting 
background for highly prized new shoes. The floor 
may be ordinary boards painted an inconspicuous tint, 
and the rug manufactured from bits of old carpeting. 
Luxuries are not always possible, yet such a floor 
serves the children. 

The ceiling. — As they come in they look about 
them, their eyes eager to find things of interest. When 
they look up we wish them to see nothing that will 
hold their attention. We want the ceiling forgotten. 
There are no elaborate decorations or gaudy colors or 
black furnace pipes — just simple whiteness. It may be 
that this can be achieved only by papering a cracked 
ceiling and covering necessary pipes with a painted 



22 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

tin jacket. An effect of inconspicuous cleanliness is 
all that is necessary. 

The walls. — The walls are a different proposi- 
tion. We shall teach much by means of our walls, 
and they will help to create an atmosphere. They are 
tinted with careful reference to the room's location. 
If it is lighted from the north, the children find pale 
yellow walls radiating sunshine. Where the sunshine 
streams in through the windows the walls are the soft 
green of early leaves or the blue of the sky. The 
woodwork is light and varnished, or of the same tint 
as the walls, or painted white. The bright environ- 
ment creates a sense of well-being, and the children's 
eyes are drawn to the burlap dado, on which are low- 
hung pictures of the stories they know and of the 
outdoor world. Just above these are a few well- 
framed pictures that are always there, and seem a 
part of the wall. The Sistine "Madonna" is one, 
"Christ Blessing Little Children" is another, a child 
praying at his mother's knee a third. A blackboard 
gives a promise of fascinating work to be done. . 

It may be the room is so large that false walls have 
to be made of burlap screens. It may be it is so small 
that the walls are extended by means of a piece of 
burlap fastened upon the back of the piano. The 
principle is the same. Walls are, of course, primarily 
to effect seclusion, but they serve two other purposes — 
to gain for the room the right atmosphere through 
color and to furnish a background for pictures. 

Doors. — Doors are to be ranked with "the ceiling, 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 23 



in our hope that they may not attract attention. In 
our ideal room there is but one for entrance and exit, 
hidden by a screen, that late comers may enter un- 
noticed. If other doors intrude themselves, they are 
locked, or at least concealed by screens. Watch the 
children's eyes wander from the pictures to an open- 
ing door, for an opening door possesses the charm of 
the unknown. 

Windows. — As we turn from doors to windows 
we are inclined to be epigrammatic and say: "Closed 
doors and open windows ! Doors few and windows 
many." If we could see lungs work as we see eyes 
and muscles, w r e might be more particular about the 
air we provide. To have windows that may remain 
open in summer and can be opened frequently in 
winter is more necessary to a wholesome environment 
than the most aesthetic coloring. And these windows 
are of plain glass. Beginners are taught much 
through nature. Nature in some form is outside 
their room. If they cannot observe trees, grass, or 
birds, they can at least see the sky and the sun, or 
the rain and the snow and the action of the mysterious 
wind. It may be that a stained-glass window must 
remain in the rooixi, but another window can be cut 
that will let in both air and the wonderful outdoors. 
A window that cannot be kept open without danger 
from drafts can have a window board placed beneath 
the lower sash, that allows the air to enter between 
the two sashes. 

Furnishings. — As we let the children tell us what 



24 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



kind of room they like, we will let their needs furnish 
it. There will be pandemonium if we leave them un- 
seated, and wriggling and inattention if we seat them 
uncomfortably, so the first necessity is small, low 
chairs. The best are probably the Mosher hygienic 
chairs, but almost any which allow the feet to rest on 
the floor are satisfactory for the short session. It is 
wise to have two heights, or even three — ten, twelve 
and fourteen inches. There is never an excuse for 
dangling feet, as ordinary chair legs can be sawed off 
if new chairs are an impossibility. 

In the arrangement we shall not forget to make the 
part of the wall containing the pictures and black- 
board a part of our circle, completing the semicircle of 
chairs. A double semicircle is better than a closed 
circle, with nothing to see but one another. Remem- 
bering the lure of the door, we see that the backs of the 
majority of the children are toward it. We also place 
the seats for mothers and visitors where they will least 
attract the children's notice. 

Next in importance are burlap screens, which are 
invaluable in preventing interruptions, and in temper- 
ing the heat of a furnace or the draft from an open 
window. 

You noticed that several children came in with gifts 
of flowers. The teacher needs a low table for these 
and for her teaching material. When a new table 
cannot be had, a second-hand one may be made the 
required height. It stands beside her, forming part 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 25 

of the magical circle, in which her chair is of the same 
height as the children's. 

There is something that may take all the magic out 
of the circle, however, and that is having part of the 
children uncomfortable in outer garments, and the rest 
throwing their wraps on chairs and piano in dis- 
orderly piles. So we hasten to make use of the hooks 
in the clothes-room and passageway. If there are no 
such places, a simple rack will serve the purpose. 

Disorder may be caused by supplies as well as cloth- 
ing. Unless there is a suitable closet, a cabinet with 
a lock is needed of the right size for pictures, folders, 
crayons, drawing paper, paste, song-books, and what- 
ever else is in common use. 

The children need to be brought into the right spirit 
for the opening prayer. A few chords from a piano 
accomplish this. No other instrument is as well 
adapted to produce effects and to lead children's voices. 
If a piano is an impossibility, a teacher's voice is better 
than an inferior organ or an instrument shared v r ith 
the Primary Department. 

Tables for the children's use are not necessary. It 
interrupts the program far less to kneel upon the rug 
and use the chair seats for the simple forms of hand- 
work possible for Beginners. Where these seats are 
not flat or are of cane, tables may be occasionally 
used, though many teachers prefer in that case to use 
the blackboard or a long strip of paper fastened to the 
wall. Freedom for movement and absence of any- 
thing that causes confusion are, the great essentials. 



26 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

Outdoor sessions and outside rooms. — Often a 
Beginners' room even approaching the ideal is a 
present impossibility. When this is the case the 
class can be held outdoors on a church lawn in 
suitable weather, in a neighboring house or parsonage, 
or even in a corner of a one-roomed church. Screens 
will aid in giving the required near-by walls and sup- 
port for pictures, and in an outdoor session shield the 
class from distractions. A homelike room in a private 
house forms an environment infinitely superior to a 
dark, damp, unattractive church room, or one shared 
with other departments. However, no far-sighted 
teacher will rest content with this makeshift, for in 
the child's church itself should be the child's special 
room. 

A last word. — Our last word is our first — that al- 
most more important is what is left out of the Begin- 
ners' room than what furnishes it. Whatever may 
have to be there between sessions, allow nothing there 
during that one hour that is not of use to the children. 
You may think that one hour a week is not worth such 
infinite pains. Remember that it is this room which 
all through the children's lives will be associated with 
their early teaching about God. 

Questions 

I. Contrast a poor and an ideal Beginners' room in 
respect to its (a) location, (b) floor, (c) ceiling, (d) 
walls, (e) doors, and (/) windows. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 27 



2. Describe furnishings that are necessary. 

3. Describe additional furnishings that are desirable. 

4. Tell of possible substitutes for furnishings. 

Problems for Discussion 

How close one can come to ideal surroundings in 
(a) the corner of a church auditorium, (b) part of a 
Primary room, (c) a church kitchen, (d) a room in a 
near-by parsonage or house. 

Assignments for Observation 

I. Visit a Beginners' room and report as follows: 
(i) Number of children. (Ask after the session 
whether this was an average attendance.) 

(2) Ages of children. 

(3) All in one circle or subdivided. 

(4) The teaching force. 

(5) Degree in which the organization obtruded it- 
self. 

(6) Characteristics of the teacher. 

(7) Atmosphere of the department. 

(8) Attitude of the assistants. 

(9) Location and size of room. 

(10) Was the color scheme the best possible? 

(11) Did it lack any essential furnishings? 

(12) Could any furnishings have been removed to 
advantage ? 

(13) Were the pictures well chosen and well 
placed ? 

(14) Was the room neat and in good order? 

(15) Was there a convenient place for the chil- 
dren's wraps? for supplies? 

(16) Suggest any desirable changes in (a) the 



28 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

room, (b) the furnishings, (c) the teaching force, 
(d) the general atmosphere. 

2. Visit a week-day kindergarten and compare with 
a Beginners' department. Note (a) features that 
should be common to both; (fe) features inappropriate 
to a short Sunday session. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 29 

LESSON III 
THE CHILD IN THE ROOM 

Machines or human beings — we must choose which we shall 
make of our children. If we are free to choose * * * we 
shall of course choose democracy. — Hugh Hartshorne, in 
Childhood and Character. 

Children, teacher, a room — upon their relationship 
When the room is supreme. — There are depart- 
depends the conduct of the department, 
ments in which the room is supreme. This happens in 
two cases — where the appointments are so dainty that 
the children are constantly warned not to injure them, 
and when they are so poor that free movement and 
effective teaching are impossible. It matters little 
whether a child is told, "Don't touch, you might hurt 
it," or whether there is nothing pretty to touch. He 
grows equally cramped whether he is kept from step- 
ping freely over a newly oiled floor, from hopping and 
crawling in impersonation of animal life, or whether 
a lack of floor space makes such action out of the 
question. He must not use colored chalk freely upon 
the new blackboard — which is almost worse than hav- 
ing no blackboard at all. The result is the same in 
either case — teacher and children bow down to environ- 
ment. The equipment which was outlined in the last 
chapter will not have this effect, for there we let the 
needs of imaginary children dictate what it should be. 



30 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

An autocracy. — There are departments in which 
the teacher and her assistants are supreme, and we 
have an autocracy. The room is well policed. Any 
child who is not good is dealt with in the circle or 
removed from it. Goodness in such a department 
means quiet and obedience. Spontaneity, either in 
speech or action, is repressed. These "good" children 
recite and listen and answer ; they do not converse and 
suggest and question. They are there to "take the 
course," and "to receive instruction." 

It is a rare teacher who has none of this autocratic 
spirit. It is a simple matter to lead suggestible chil- 
dren along the mental path of the teacher's choice. 
Just as she can overcome them by superior physical 
strength, so she can win out in a mental contest. "But 
we were not talking about new shoes," she can say, 
insistently, to a bold interrupter, "we were talking 
about feeding birds," which she continues to do to a 
dumb but listless audience. This type of teacher is 
satisfied when she has personally conducted her class 
along the section of the route apportioned to that hour. 
She regards it as her trip, and allows no wandering in 
attractive bypaths, chosen by the children. 

Anarchy. — There are departments in which the 
children are supreme, and we have anarchy. The 
bugbear which usually leads to this is the fear on the 
teacher's part that the children will cease attending 
or will dislike her. It may be that she really desires 
order, but doesn't know how to get it. The result is 
noise, confusion, weariness on the part of* both leader 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 31 

and children, and nothing accomplished — not even a 
happy time, for license never means happiness. Such a 
department depends upon songs, marches, and pic- 
tures to catch the attention or to drown out the noise. 
Stories are shortened to their least possible length, 
and told even then with interruptions and lack of 
attention. 

A democracy. — The ideal department is a de- 
mocracy, in which the teacher is guided by the chil- 
dren, and they, in turn, by her. Just as the president 
of a true democracy listens to the voice of the people, 
so this teacher keeps close to her children, that she 
may satisfy their needs. And as a great president 
leads the people on, because he sees farther than they, 
so the wise teacher leads as well as follows. 

There are certain social laws that the children must 
learn are necessary wherever people meet together. 
One is respect for the rights of others. John will have 
to curb his desire to tell every story and answer every 
question, and give way to somebody else. Each child 
must wait his turn at the blackboard. One must often 
sing another child's favorite song. If all talk at once, 
nobody is listened to. Teasing another child is re- 
garded with disapproval, not alone by the teacher but 
by the children. So is interrupting a story. In 
groups of little children, as truly as in any community, 
there is public opinion. The teacher is the personality 
that molds it, but each child is influenced fully as much 
by the frown or favor of his classmates as by her. 

John refuses to join in following an imaginary pil- 



32 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

lar of cloud, and is left alone in the circle, while the 
others wind about the room. " He is ignored and for- 
gotten. If he had refused because of shyness, he 
would rejoice, but his motive was rather a desire for 
prominence, a wish to be independent and different. 
To his dismay he has lost favor with the crowd, and 
he leaves his seat and joins the others. 

Sarah is officiously attentive to the small child next 
her. The child resents this, and she finds her neigh- 
borhood shunned by the younger children. 

Janet breaks into the story with an experience of 
her own, utterly unrelated, which is promptly cut short 
by the teacher. She is disappointed in finding no sym- 
pathy in the faces of the children, but instead impa- 
tience and annoyance that she should interrupt a tale 
they wished to hear. 

Sharing ideals. — The department, little by little, 
comes to share the teacher's ideals, as the teacher, 
little by little, has discovered what ideals are possible 
for children of four and five. The difficulty of main- 
taining these ideals comes from the new children who 
are constantly entering, without any experience in 
adapting themselves to a group, and, toward a year's 
close, from those just ready to leave, whose sense of 
new powers makes them feel superior to common laws. 

Directed freedom is what we want in our Beginners ■ 
classes. It means on the teacher's part sympathetic 
appreciation of the children's spontaneous acts and re- 
marks, coupled with a sense of the needs of all chil- 
dren, which must not be thwarted by too great free- 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 33 



dom on the part of any single child. It does not mean 
loss of individuality to have little attention paid to 
remarks or questions or acts that do not contribute to 
the interest of the whole class. It is a wholesome 
preparation for life. 

Reverence. — There is another element entering 
into the atmosphere of the Beginners'- room, which 
makes it unlike any other place to little children. This 
element is reverence. The sense of reverence oc- 
curs at other times and in other places, as at the bed- 
time prayer, during grace at meals, where hymns are 
sung at home, but it is peculiarly associated with this 
room. Each Sunday there are moments of prayer, a 
quiet hush, when all are thinking of God, thrills of 
wonder at his creations, the sense of his presence given 
by hymns. His part in human affairs is shown through 
Bible stories. The spirit of worship is induced through 
pictures. The realization of God's Fatherhood is keen 
as the children represent in play the outdoor life safe 
in his keeping. 

Reverence means neither solemnity nor restraint. 
A spirit of abandon insures it more surely than a spirit 
of reserve. The teacher is reverent who opens her 
heart to the gladness and wonder and charm of God's 
world. Her children catch her attitude and "let them- 
selves go," reveling in God's sunshine, participating 
through play in God's creations, enumerating happily 
and enthusiastically gifts from his hand — the new shoes 
which are their pride, or the Sunday school which is 



34 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

their anticipation. Did you ever experience the de- 
lighted interest that comes when little children exam- 
ine a bird's nest, made by God's birds without hands? 
That is reverence. Did you ever gather about a 
Thanksgiving gift of vegetables and fruits and enthuse 
over the colors, telling which one you brought, lifting 
some and smelling others, and bow your head in appre- 
ciation of the power that can make a big pumpkin and 
a tiny cranberry? That is reverence. Did you ever 
catch the spirit of worship from a worshipful picture 
and then sing a prayer-song? That is reverence. Did 
you ever wonder where the fragrance of a lily comes 
from, or how stars could be hung so high? That is 
reverence. Did you ever, on the completion of a fas- 
cinating Bible story, hold the Bible, saying, "The 
stories about God are here," and watch the children's 
expression? That is reverence. Did you ever call 
the children close to you, after a story of God's care, 
and whisper to each child the name of the One who 
cares, and watch their faces as they hear the words 
"heavenly Father"? That is reverence. 

The teacher's attitude. — The child's behavior in 
the room depends to a large extent upon the respect 
paid him by his teacher. Watch many a teacher's atti- 
tude toward a little child and you will see how much 
surer he is of kindly patronage than of the respect he 
craves. He feels instinctively that he is entitled to 
respect, even though he is small. His trust is won by 
the teacher who treats him with the same courtesy she 
would show an adult, who recognizes his individuality 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 35 

and pays attention to his opinion. And whom a child 
trusts he obeys and follows. 

The teacher who respects a child is the one who 
encourages initiative and originality. Her idea of good 
behavior is not passivity, either mental or physical. 
When she discovers the ability to invent she does 
everything in her power to allow this free scope. 
When she finds the tendency to suggest a new line of 
thought or fresh play, she gladly follows the lead. This 
gives an indescribable sense of stimulation to the 
creative child or the child with the qualities of leader- 
ship. 

Children, teacher, a room — after all, it is the teacher 
who makes of any room a prison or a place of free, 
spontaneous, joyous growth. 

Questions 

i. Describe a Beginners' Department in which (a) 
the room is most prominent, (b) the teacher rules, 
(c) the children are supreme, (d) ideal conditions. 

2. What social laws must the children obey? 

3. Give your idea of what directed freedom is. 

4. How can children be reverent? 

5. Describe the ideal teacher's attitude (a) of re- 
spect to the children, (&) of encouragement to chil- 
dren's initiative. 



36 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

LESSON IV 
MATERIALS FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

The main thing for us as students of child psychology to 
bear in mind is that children have a religious nature. To 
ignore it is to deprive them of some of their inheritance — 
after all, the most important part. But the fact that children 
have by nature a religious impulse is no reason to suppose 
that they will grow religious, or that they will necessarily have 
any conscious religious experience or realization of God. This 
tendency needs developing, pruning, directing, feeding, just as 
any other does. — Norsworthy and Whitley, in The Psychology 
of Childhood. 

A little child's religion. — The reason for the or- 
ganization and equipment outlined in the first two 
chapters is the religious nurture of little children. 
"Religious nurture" is a phrase we glibly use. Ex- 
actly what do we mean by it? We mean something 
that can be so simply stated we are in danger of failing 
to realize its profundity. Religious nurture is making 
little children conscious of God and desirous of being 
good. 

We might go further and say that it is opening up 
to little children fullness of life, because only that life 
is complete which includes God ; that it is assisting 
them in the task to which they are born — the task of 
discovering God ; that it is the answer to their natural 
questionings about the cause and origin of things ; that 
it is initiating them into "the practice of the presence 
of God/' 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 37 

Nuture means promoting growth, and religious as 
well as physical growth depends upon food. The food 
upon which little children's spiritual nature will 
flourish must be interesting and concrete, and will 
usually take the form of stories. These will be stories 
interpreting their life, or capable of arousing a desir- 
able feeling, or embodying a religious truth. 

Arrangement of stories. — The stories will nat- 
urally be arranged in some order. With children four 
and five years old it is immaterial whether or not this 
order is chronological. It is important that the stories 
shall fit into the course of the year, in which Thanks- 
giving and Christmas are high lights, and the course 
of the seasons, which are a never-ceasing delight. Thus 
festival days and seasons will be interpreted through 
stories. 

Thanksgiving and Christmas stories. — Thanks- 
giving and Christmas determine the stories for Novem- 
ber and December. The entire month of December 
can be filled with stories about giving or the baby 
Jesus. This is done in the Beginners' Course of the 
International Graded Lessons, 1 which is a depart- 
mental course of one hundred and four lessons. Each 
December the same stories occur. The old idea was 
to save the story of Jesus' birth for Christmas Sunday. 
The new idea is to tell this early in the month, so that 
it will explain Christmas and arouse the Christmas 
spirit. Observe how Thanksgiving comes as a climax 



i Outlines can be obtained from denominational publishing 
houses. 



38 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

to stories about God's care and people who gave 
thanks for it, and how this long preparation gives an 
understanding to the Thanksgiving season. Thus two 
red-letter days of a child's year are made the basis of 
his religious education. How different from forcing 
upon him a scheme of lessons utterly unrelated to his 
interests ! 

Examine in your outline of the International Begin- 
ners' Course the stories that find their climax in 
Thanksgiving and notice the series of Christmas 
stories. 

Nature interpreted. — Then again, the procession 
of the seasons offers the best possible opportunities for 
answering those questions about the cause of outdoer 
happenings that children constantly ask. 

"See the feathers! Who is shaking a pillow ?" a 
child asks when the snow falls. 

"Who's turned the faucet?" another child inquires 
when the rain pours down. "Who is pulling the sun 
down behind the hills?" "Lift me up high, so I can 
see the wind." "Who painted the rainbow? Who 
could get up so high?" Thus query little children, 
and it is a significant fact that they never ask "What?" 
but "Who?" — which proves their search for a per- 
sonality. It is very satisfying to point out God as the 
great Cause of all these natural events. Through wind 
and storm, through flower and insect, through morn- 
ing sun and evening star, through bird and beast, the 
great discovery is made that behind everything that 
is, is God. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 39 

Think of nature happenings that seem to you to be 
of particular interest to little children, and see if they 
are made use of in the Beginners' Course you are 
examining. 

Worship. — Consciousness of God and love for 
him will not persist without some expression in prayer 
or praise. . Stories that make communion with God a 
natural and frequent act, and songs in his praise a 
delight, help to form a habit of worship in which little 
children show charming naivete and sincerity. Exam- 
ine the course for stories of this character. 

Coworkers with God. — Children early show a 
wish to exercise their own powers, not so much to 
assist others as to prove their ability to do so. Thus 
there comes to be another relationship to their 
parents besides that of dependence — helpfulness. This 
same relationship should exist between the heavenly 
Father and little children. Many a winter bird will 
die unless it receives food from a child's hand. Gar- 
den flowers require more frequent watering than the 
rain gives. Animal pets are dependent for food and 
shelter upon their owners. Even the happiness of the 
people God creates depends upon their helpfulness to 
one another. Children respond heartily to this appeal, 
heartily and with startling self-confidence. "I could 
make a tree grow; I'm pretty strong," said Harold- 
Then, as a concession, "If God just started it." 

It therefore seems quite necessary that in the mate- 
rial for a child's religious education there should be 
groups of stories upon the children's part as coworkers 



40 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

with God. Examine the course under consideration, 
and mark any such groups. 

Stories about Jesus. — The whole of religion for 
man or child is summed up in the two great com- 
mandments — "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind"; "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. " 

This second commandment finds its perfect illus- 
tration in the life of the Lord Jesus. Not alone are 
the stories of his childhood fascinating to little chil- 
dren. His deeds of kindness and mercy find a respon- 
sive chord in their hearts. They do not wonder at his 
power, when grown to manhood, but delight that he 
should make sick people well, and children welcome; 
that he should feed a supperless multitude, and still 
a storm. 

Pick out the incidents in Jesus' life you would select 
for little children, and see if they have a place in the 
Beginners' Course. 

Stories of kindness and helpfulness. — Stories of 
Jesus are not the only incentives to helpful kindness 
needed by little children. They find closer parallels to 
their own lives in incidents of people who show tender 
sympathy and practical help. Nor need these people 
necessarily be children. Look over the course for such 
stories, and notice how they are grouped. 

Stories of family relationships. — In The Psychol- 
ogy of Childhood, by Norsworthy and Whitley, it is 
said that "one of the chief moral habits needed at this 
age is obedience." This habit is gained largely at 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 41 



home, and may be called in the beginning a relation- 
ship between parent and child. Examine the course 
to find stories illustrating obedience. 

Many other qualities besides obedience enter into a 
happy family life. Examine the course for stories of 
kindness and the opposite in family life, unselfishness, 
hospitality, and loving service. 

Children like to see the reflection of their own 
activities in nature. Do you find any such analogies 
of family life in nature in these stories? 

Interpretation of Easter. — For little children the 
Easter message of life after death is not gained 
through the resurrection story. The story of nature's 
awakening after the winter's sleep is a preparation for 
the thought of continued life in heaven. "There are 
no dead," is Tyltyl's conclusion in "The Bluebird." 
It is the conclusion we covet for the little child, whose 
instinctive belief is in eternal life. The story of Jesus 
preparing a home of marvelous charm gives a little 
child a sense of pleasant anticipation. 

Story themes and repeated stories. — Write out 
the story themes in order, and decide whether this is 
an effective outline of a curriculum, thinking always 
of the child as he is and the religion he needs. 

Find out the proportion of Bible and nature stories, 
and how many lessons are reserved for old stories to 
be retold. The course is distinguished for its repeti- 
tion of familiar tales. 

Bible verses. — Notice the number and kind of 
Bible verses that are given for use with the children. 



42 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

Count them, write them down, and consider how many 
are of assistance in children's religious nurture, as 
prayers, or to clarify the themes by frequent use. 

The aim. — The wording of the aim unfortunately 
gives an impression of theological complexity which 
is unwarranted by the simple lessons. Reduced to its 
simplest terms it means realization of God's care, 
friendship with Jesus, a picture of the home in heaven, 
and a little child's part in the world's work. 

Compare this with the expressed aim of another 
course, and decide whether this course includes the 
same teaching: "To guide the pupil's thought, feeling 
and conduct in his human relations in the family, at 
school, at play and elsewhere, emphasizing most of all 
ideal relationships in the family life, so that he will 
begin to realize himself as a member of God's family." 

General plans. — This Beginners' Course is part 
of a system of lessons that is graded by years. It dif- 
fers from the courses that follow in providing lessons 
for a department not divided into grades, and so it is 
correctly termed a departmental course. All children 
in the department, whether four or five years old, are 
taught the same lesson, whose theme is so interwoven 
into the informal program that any more complicated 
plan would lead to confusion. There are one hundred 
and four of these lessons, which cover the period a 
child spends in the department. They begin in Octo- 
ber and are closely connected with the seasons. 

Sources of stories. — The stories of this course are 
from the Bible, with the exception of* the nature 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 43 



stories, and these are nearly all founded upon verses 
in which the Hebrews sought God through his crea- 
tions. Louise Seymour Houghton has paid a wonder- 
ful tribute to the efficacy of Bible stories in little chil- 
dren's religious education. And because no teacher 
should underrate their value, a quotation from her 
Telling Bible Stories is given as a close to this lesson : 
'The relations with God which we find mirrored in 
the Old Testament stories are the relations of a child 
people with their heavenly Father ; they do appeal to 
the child; they awaken in him a response, not of the 
affections only, but of the intellect ; they are an ade- 
quate and a compelling force to lead him, while yet a 
little child, into like personal relations with God. And 
the child to whom the sense of God early becomes 
second nature can no more lose it than he can lose 
the art of walking or of other acquired habits which 
have become spontaneous." 

Questions 

In this lesson suggestions for study of a particular 
Beginners' Course occur under the sections. A fur- 
ther test for this, or any other course of lessons, may 
be found in the following questions, based upon the 
needs of a little child's nature : 

i. Are there stories that will quiet unreasoning 
fear and give a sense of trust ? 

2. What stories appeal because of a child's help- 
lessness and need of care? 

3. Name stories satisfying a child's curiosity. 



44 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

4. Name those which will be an incentive to ac- 
tivity. 

5. What stories appeal because of a child's natural 
affection ? 

6. Will all the stories produce happy associations 
with religious ideas? 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 45 

LESSON V 
BUILDING A PROGRAM 

A child's maturity, his experience, his interests and ideals, 
his habits, his knowledge determine his growth and interpre- 
tation in religion and morals just as surely as they do in 
arithmetic and literature. — Norsworthy and Whitley, in The 
Psychology of Childhood. 

Good proportion of parts. — "Building a program" 
is a good phrase, for it implies that a program is made 
with its parts properly proportioned to one another. 
It is this matter of proportion which distinguishes a 
specimen of good architecture, and also its adaptation 
to the use for which it is designed. So with one's 
program for the Beginners' Department. 

A program that fails usually does so because of the 
disproportion of its part, and the explanation may be 
found in a teacher's capacity or preference. When she 
excells as as a story-teller, she is likely to crowd in 
an extra story. If working with materials appeals to 
her, handwork occupies a large place. She may be 
musical, and her children will sing frequently ; or dra- 
matic, and the possibilities of play will loom large. 
She may wish, above anything else, to cultivate the 
missionary spirit, and try to do so by a prolonged 
offering service. She may be impressed with the desir- 
ability of good-fellowship, and stress the welcome. In 
any such case she needs to proportion her program and 



46 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

make it serve the children rather than her own in- 
clination. 

A plastic program. — Another preliminary word 
needs to be said in regard to the program. It is fatal 
to the spirit of freedom unless it is plastic, while free- 
dom is equally endangered from a session with no pro- 
gram. It may seem paradoxical to suggest that a pro- 
gram should be built with painstaking care, and yet 
be subject to change. This is because the children 
for whom it is arranged constitute an unknown quan- 
tity, and their response may alter it. The program 
that is well planned and thoroughly in the teacher's 
mind is the one which can be easily lengthened in one 
part and shortened in another. 

The five purposes. — The program has five dis- 
tinct purposes — to create a sense of good-fellowship 
and intimacy, to afford opportunity for worship, to call 
forth the children's ideas, to present new thoughts, and 
to give scope for expression on their part. 

The first is accomplished by greetings, the second 
by prayer and song, the third is provided for in the 
circle talk, the fourth in the story period, and the fifth 
through the offering, play, and handwork. 

The greetings. — Consider first what is often 
called the "fellowship service." This actually begins 
in the welcome given at the door, as the children arrive 
and their wraps are removed. It must have in addition 
a distinct place in the program, when all are seated in 
the circle. It should never be omitted, but should 
usually be shortened. It is a fallacy to consider length 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 47 

necessary for effectiveness. A short welcoming song 
repeated many times is better than a long one. Two 
or more children may pass about the circle shaking 
hands, while this is sung again and again. It is de- 
lightful to be welcomed individually, if one has been 
absent for several Sundays, but almost as satisfactory 
to form one of a group of recent absentees. To be 
greeted as a newcomer is a pleasure if one is not shy, 
but torture if one is. Every child enjoys occasionally 
turning to mothers and visitors and shaking hands or 
singing a welcome; but if this occurs every Sunday, 
it loses the charm of novelty. 

A birthday must never be forgotten, but its recog- 
nition need take little time. A special birthday chair, 
or one's chair decorated with a ribbon bow, is an honor 
every child covets. A star or other design stuck on a 
birthday calendar, the welcome song sung to the birth- 
day child, and his pennies dropped into the birthday 
bank form a simple and satisfactory celebration. 

The same warning is needed for a Cradle Roll ad- 
mittance service. The program is planned for children 
four and five, and they are not interested in a long, 
sentimental song and lengthy prayer about babies. 
They do like to hear of the baby brothers and sisters 
who will one day come to the church school, and will 
give interesting items concerning them, and join in a 
tiny prayer or song about them. 

The entire greeting section should be condensed into 
five or six minutes and often less. The occasions for 
an extension of this part of the program would be an 



48 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

unusual number of birthdays. It is advisable to admit 
Cradle Roll babies monthly, or upon Sundays when 
there are no birthdays to celebrate. 

Opening music and prayer. — Previous to this 

greeting service there will usually be music to call 
attention to the opening of the session, or to quiet the 
children, or to awaken interest. A common custom is 
to play the tune of a new song, which may then be 
sung with the syllable "la" or "loo." 

A natural climax to the greetings is the recognition 
of God's presence. A simple prayer, sung or spoken, 
furnishes the key-note for the hour. 

The offering service.— The offering service will 
follow. The offering itself is often taken at the door, 
to prevent the annoyance of dropped pennies. A 
better method is to collect them after the children 
are seated, as otherwise they have been known 
to regard this as entrance money. In any case there 
will be an offering service, which usually will be a 
brief mention of its purpose, and sometimes an offering 
song, a march or a prayer. This is a section of the 
program that will be expanded at certain times, the 
Christmas season notably. Suppose we plan for ap- 
proximately five minutes for this section. 

The circle talk. — We then come to the circle talk, 
to which belongs the major part of the hour, because 
it allows for the children's response, and for the great- 
est freedom on their part. Its varied features will be 
treated at length in Lesson XL A full twenty min- 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 49 

utes should be allowed for it, and often it will need 
extension to twenty-five minutes or half an hour. 

The rest period. — To insure the effectiveness of 
the story period, which follows and forms the climax 
of the hour, it must be preceded by some physical 
movements. These may be provided for in a three- to 
five-minute rest period. They will more often come in 
naturally as play at the end of the circle talk. A place 
is made for this in the program, lest it be forgotten. 

The story period and dismissal. — The story pe- 
riod will occupy from ten to fifteen minutes, including 
a possible preparation for the story, the story itself, 
observation of the picture, and a prayer or song. 

Last comes the distribution of the papers, putting on 
the wraps, a good-by song, and an orderly dismissal, 
taking from eight to ten minutes. Our finished pro- 
gram will read, then, like this : 

Quiet music ) 

~ . > 7 minutes. 

Greetings ) 

Opening Prayer 1 8 minutes . 

Offering \ 

Circle Talk 22 minutes. 

Rest Period 3 minutes. 

Story Period 12 minutes. 

Dismissal 8 minutes. 

Total 6o minutes. 

Pre-session activities. — In schools that are held 
in the morning or afternoon some children arrive 



50 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

early, and there is usually quite a group waiting for 
the beginning of the session — and not waiting idly! 
This time can be made interesting by having on a 
table objects of nature, mounted pictures, scrapbooks 
and blocks which are seasonal, or related to the day's 
theme. A teacher should be present, but the children 
left free to look at any material that attracts them. 
They will enjoy taking small, mounted pictures from 
a box and will sometimes arrange them in a story 
sequence. 

This use of materials will not only keep the early 
comers out of mischief ; it will accomplish something 
far more constructive. The children will come to the 
class with ideas that fit into the theme and form a 
real preparation for the lesson. 

Program as a whole. — Think now of the program 
as a whole. The quiet music that opens the session 
calls together children whose interest is already awak- 
ened in the lesson theme, and others upon whom the 
influence of the attractive surroundings has a subtle 
effect. The greetings give a sense of happy fellow- 
ship. God's presence is recognized in the opening 
prayer. Through the offering others less fortunate 
are included in the thought. The circle talk seems 
to the children a delightful opportunity to talk, to 
sing, to play, to enjoy again last week's story, to draw, 
to pick out objects in pictures, to handle flowers, 
shells, and birds' nests. They do not realize that in 
its variety there has been a unity of thought that makes 
the lesson theme intensely vital. Neither do they 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 51 

know that the play that precedes the story is fitting 
their bodies to be quiet during it. This story is the 
climax of their thinking, which is intensified by prayer 
or song or verse. Receiving leaflets which contain 
that story, and perhaps their new song and the Bible 
verse, gives pleasant anticipation of a continuation of 
the lesson in their own homes, to which they now go. 

Questions 

i. What are the elements of a good program? 

2. Is it ever allowable to change a well planned 
program ? 

3. Name the five distinctive purposes of a program. 

4. Consider what parts of the program achieve 
these purposes. 

5. Write out a program, approximately timed. 

Problems for Discussion 

A. Show how at the Christmas giving season one 
should extend one part of the program and cut out 
others. 

B. Make over the program to allow for a Sunday 
after vacation, when many greetings are essential. 

C. Make over the program to allow for tw T o old 
stories to be retold, at the children's request. 

D. Change a program on service to allow for some 
actual service to be performed after the story. 

ASSIGNMNET FOR OBSERVATION 

Observe a Beginners' session. Criticize the pro- 
gram from the standpoint of (a) proportion, (b) ef- 
fectiveness, (c) adaptation to the children's response. 



52 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



Leave your notebook at home, but make notes 
immediately on your return. The following questions 
will help you to make a critical analysis : 

(i) What impressed me as the most prominent 
features of the program ? Was there any part I should 
like to have lengthened? shortened? 

(2) Was there real worship? effectiveness in the 
use of Bible verses ? joy in the songs ? interest in the 
story ? Where effectiveness was lost, was there a 
reason ? 

(3) Did the children's remarks influence the pro- 
gram? Were they allowed to exercise initiative? 
Where they failed to respond, was an effort made to 
win their interest? Was the general effect that of a 
program induced by the children's attitude, or one 
forced upon them by the teacher ? 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 53 

LESSON VI 
WORSHIP AND PRAYER 

Prayer is not merely "asking for things," even though that 
asking be for help in his efforts to be good, and for God's 
blessing upon those he loves. Prayer is communion with an 
unseen Father; and when the child prays, that which matters 
most is his attitude toward God, and not the form of his 
petitions. — Edith E. Read Mumford, in The Dawn of Religion 
in the Mind of the Child. 

Little children's worship. — A teacher of little 
children realizes how natural and sincere their wor- 
ship is, and often learns through them to strip her own 
prayers of the formality that overlays them. A child's 
worship may be considered in its three phases — speak- 
ing to God in words, sung or spoken ; reverent but 
unexpressed feeling; and the wonder that is usually 
aroused through God's creations. 

Worship is peculiarly dependent upon atmosphere. 
The appointments of the room, which have been dis- 
cussed, do much toward creating this atmosphere; so 
does an unobtrusive yet efficient organization. Most 
important of all is the attitude of the teacher and 
assistants. 

The opening prayer. — In our program we put an 
opening prayer after the welcome song. A recogni- 
tion of God's presence naturally follows the greetings 
to one another, to children made important by recent 
birthdays and to new members, and the references to 



54 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

absent ones and to babies who will some day come to 
the church school. This prayer is repeated or sung. 
Usually the same one is used, and the familiar words 
and music may in themselves produce a worshipful 
spirit. 

Preparation for prayer. — The teacher sometimes 
feels that further preparation is needed. She leads her 
children to a picture — "The Angelus," or "The Child 
Samuel/' or a modern child at prayer. She speaks 
of the postures of the man and woman in "The An- 
gelus," as an example for one's attitude during prayers, 
or she simply bows her own head and closes her eyes, 
or she suggests that this be done. A song certain to 
bring about a reverent frame of mind is the following : 

"This is God's house and he is here to-day ; 
He hears each song of praise and listens while we 
pray." 1 

Possibly the desired atmosphere comes through a ref- 
erence to the outdoor world, to the sunshine sent by 
God, to the wonder of the snow, to the need for his 
rain. 

Rote prayers. — The important thing for the 
teacher to remember is that a familiar prayer said by 
rote is in danger of becoming a mere form. This is 
not the only place in the program where prayers are 
said or sung. They may come anywhere in the circle 
talk. They frequently follow the story. There is 
sometimes a closing prayer. They will come whenever 



i Prom Songs for Little People, the Pilgrim Press. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 55 

there is the impulse to pray — and the impulse to pray 
will depend upon the degree of consciousness of God 
which prevails. Rote prayers must be very simple in 
thought and expression, and if sung the music should 
be reverent and simple. One of the most common is 
this: 

"Father, w r e thank thee for the night, 
And for the pleasant morning light, 
For rest and food and daily care, 
And all that makes the world so fair!" 2 

Another childlike prayer-song is the following: 

"Father in heaven, we pray to thee 
That good children we may be." 3 

Bible verse prayers. — When the Bible verses 
suggested with the lessons are prayers, they should be 
used as such, and never by any chance as recitations. 
Such verses are, — "Thou hast made summer and win- 
ter" ; "The day is thine, the night also is thine" ; "Thou, 
Lord, hast made me glad"; "Help me, O Lord my 
God." The first two express a child's consciousness of 
God the Creator, and the last two a child's apprecia- 
tion of the Author of his happiness and his help in 
trouble. They frequently are exactly the words 
needed. Bible verses that form a good prelude to 
prayer, thanksgiving and praise are, "Lord, teach us 
to pray" ; "I will give thanks unto the Lord" ; "Let us 
sing unto the Lord." 



2 From Songs and Games for Little Ones, Oliver Ditson Co. 

3 From The Children's Year, Milton Bradley Co. 



56 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

Spontaneous prayers. — However, little children 
pray otherwise than in words learned by heart, and 
their spontaneous prayers are very real worship. We 
all know of original requests added by r >ildren to their 
bedtime petition, "God bless mother ana daddy." The 
atmosphere at the Beginners' session ought to be so 
homelike that a similar thing happens. The teacher 
follows a talk or song or story about God's care by 
saying, "Let's bow our heads and tell the heavenly 
Father things we are glad for. Dear heavenly Father, 
I am glad for the eggs I had for breakfast, and John 
is glad for — (my new shoes) and Mary is glad for — 
(candy) and Sarah is glad for — (ice-cream)." A 
long list follows, usually of material comforts, though 
a child may speak of his mother or a new baby brother 
or a toy. 

Another way to get the children's cooperation in 
prayer is to pause and let any child who wishes name 
something he is glad about. The objects for thanks 
may be named in the circle, with eyes open, and the 
prayer of thanks come at the close. This may be the 
chorus of "Can a Little Child like Me." 4 

"Father, we thank thee, 
Father, we thank thee, 
Father in heaven, we thank thee." 

Or a very simple song like the following: 



4 From Laudes Domini for the Sunday School or Songs for 
Little People. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 57 

"We thank the heavenly Father, 
We thank the heavenly Father, 
We thank the heavenly Father, kind and good !" 5 

When teachers and children are conscious of God's 
presence informal prayer is natural and frequent. In 
the midst of interesting conversation they stop and 
"tell the heavenly Father about it." The weather 
leads them to express their happiness, or a home expe- 
rience in which they see his hand, or new wearing* 
apparel. "I am glad," or, "It makes me happy," states 
a child's appreciation better than, "I am thankful." 

Under worshipful conditions little children readily 
fall in with a suggestion to appeal to the heavenly 
Father for help to be good, or to enumerate the things 
that makes them glad, or to make a confidant of him. 

Prayer and play. — Prayer follows play very nat- 
urally. This will seem odd only to one not in close 
sympathy with little children. Play as used in the 
Beginners' class is impersonation, frequently of 
creatures and objects of the outdoor world. This 
in itself brings to mind their Creator. But that is 
not the chief reason why play is closely akin to 
prayer. It is, rather, because both are natural 
expressions of child nature. The imagination that 
can transform a child into a bird easily pictures 
an invisible Father of both bird and child. A nature 
that has expanded, through feeling and acting as 



5FromO&;ecf Lessons for the Cradle Roll, the Pilgrim Press, 



58 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

something outside itself feels and acts, finds it some- 
how easier to realize God. 

Worship unexpressed. — Words are not the only * 

evidence of worship. Little children often worship 
dumbly. A story of God's protection told thrillingly 
fills them with a sense of his part in the world. They 
feel his love. A hymn sung by the teacher, or soft, 
reverential chords arouse in a musical child the wor- 
shipful spirit. A picture with the worshipful feeling 
impresses another child in the same way. Children's 
eyes more often than their lips tell us that they are 
worshiping. 

The worship of wonder. — Closely akin to this is 
the wonder every child shows at some object of nature 
that to adults has become commonplace. It may be 
falling snowflakes seen from the window, or the mys- 
tery of the wind bending trees and flattening grass, or 
a flower that is touched and smelled, or tiny green 
leaves that have come magically from seeds once 
planted. The wonder, expressed or unexpressed, is, 
"How could God?" the answer, "But he did." There 
is reality in the worship of wonder that is often lost 
in formal prayer. The sympathetic teacher feels this 
as she learns from the child to look up to One who 
can hang stars in space and perfume a lily with fra- 
grance that can neither be seen nor used up. 

Betsey's first prayer. — The following description 

is of a child's spontaneous prayer, told by her father: 

Betsey was only two years old but already her 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 59 

mother had taught her the evening prayer of child- 
hood, — 



'Now I lay me down to sleep, 

I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep. 

Thy love go with me through the night, 

And wake me with the morning light." 



This prayer she said every night — sometimes rap- 
idly, sometimes slowly, often hilariously — for what 
could it mean to her? God was only a name, and so 
the beautiful little prayer which, when understood, is 
cherished as one of the precious associations of child- 
hood, was simply falling from her lips as a mental 
exercise. She had not learned to pray. 

But one evening in the early winter, when night falls 
at the children's bedtime, she saw the evening star. 
With awe and wonder and curiosity she watched it in 
the sky. 

"Can I take it in my hands ?" she said. "How does 
it get up there ?" 

"God put it there/' she was told. 

"How does he put it there ?" 

And then began the child's first real teaching about 
God, and then came her first real prayer : "Thank you, 
God, for putting the little stars in the sky." 

After this nearly every winter evening found Betsey 
and me at the window, seeking God through his stars. 
I taught her the little poem of worship : 



60 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, 
How I wonder what you are, 
Up above the world so high, 
Like a diamond in the sky !" 

There would be a pause after the last line, and then 
she would usually thank God in her own words for the 
little stars, or "little lamps/- in the sky. 

The reality of those prayers, in contrast to the mean- 
ingless repetition of that learned by rote, convinced me 
that the path from nature to God is very direct for a 
little child — perhaps the only possible path for feet so 
easily lost in one more circuitous. 



Questions 

i. In what three ways do little children worship? 

2. Tell how a worshipful spirit may be induced for 
the opening prayer. 

3. Name other parts of the program in which 
prayers or song-prayers may occur. 

4. Give Bible prayer verses. 

5. Suggest when informal prayers may be used. 

6. What connection do you see between play and 
prayer ? 

7. What will induce reverent feeling? 

8. Explain the worship of wonder. 

Problems for Discussion 

A. The wisdom of suggesting prayers for stated 
material objects. 

B. A teacher saw that none of her children had 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 61 



closed their eyes throughout a prayer. Where was 
the trouble? 

C. A teacher's best preparation for making her 
children worshipful. 

Assignment for Observation 

Do not spoil the atmosphere of worship by an over- 
critical attitude. 

1. Compare evidences of the worshipful spirit in 
rote and spontaneous prayers. 

2. Watch for a swift transition from play to prayer. 

3. Is worship frequent and informal? 

4. Look for the worship of wonder. 

5. Suggest a remedy for any lack of a worshipful 
atmosphere. 



62 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

LESSON VII 
MUSIC 

A child is capable of religious feeling long before he is 
capable of religious thought. Various influences combine to 
strengthen this feeling. When, on Sundays, he and his mother 
listen to the solemn pealing of the organ outside the church 
door; or when, in the evening, she plays to him in the soft 
twilight— again and again the sacred music arouses and 
deepens within him the same quiet sense of awe which he 
experiences each night when his mother prays. — Edith A. Read 
Mumford, in The Dawn of Religion in the Mind of the Child. 

Limited use. — The value of music is so univer- 
sally accepted that the danger lies in too free use of it 
in the Beginners' Department. In making out a pro- 
gram it is a simple matter to indicate songs, old and 
new, that illustrate the points and will be, supposedly, 
sung with enthusiasm. The actual fact is that little 
children thoroughly enjoy only familiar songs, and 
very few can be familiar to children who come to- 
gether but once a week for an hour, with many days 
between in which to forget. 

There is one way in which a greater variety of songs 
may be used than the children can learn, and that is 
by having one occasionally sung by the teacher and her 
assistants. It takes no great musical ability to do this. 
Anyone who can carry a tune and takes pains to enun- 
ciate clearly satisfies the children. A story may be 
sung as well as told, and music gives pleasure when 
one merely listens to it. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 63 



Even this should not be overdone. A Beginners' 
session is not a musical program, and only as many 
songs should occur as the children can absorb. The 
word "absorb" is used advisedly, to indicate that trans- 
fusion into one's being which takes place when a song 
or a story is truly effective. One song repeated an 
indefinite number of times does not mean monotony to 
a little child, nor to a sympathetic teacher. 

Songs repeated. — One instance is the refrain 
spoken of in the last lesson, sung as various reasons 
for thanks are named. Other songs, applicable to many 
common experiences in a child's life, and so coming 
in appropriately during the progress of the circle talk, 
are the following: 

"Happy as a robin, 
Gentle as a dove, 
That's the sort of little child 
Every one will love." 1 — Emilie Poulsson. 

Happy Thought 2 

"The world is so full of a number of things, 
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." 

— Stevenson. 
A Thought 2 

"It is very nice to think 
The world is full of meat and drink, 
With little children saying grace, 
In every Christian kind of place." 

— Stevenson. 



i From In the Child's World, Milton Bradley Company. Music 
in Songs for Little People, The Pilgrim Press. 

2 Prom A Child's Garden of Verses, Charles Scribner's Sons. 
Music in Songs for Little People. 



64 Me thods for Teachers of Beginners 

One of the songs that can be repeated with slight 
variations is this: 

"Father in heaven, I'm glad as can be 
For the good milkman who's working for me. J 

The policeman, postman, fireman, and carpenter 
each have a verse in the song, and the children often 
elect other workmen to be sung about. The signal to 
stop this song usually comes from the teacher, as the 
children find it fascinating. Its mission is accom- 
plished if it fills the children with enthusiasm over 
those who work for them. 

Songs of one verse and for single occasions. — 
Songs of but one verse are preferable, and are becom- 
ing more and more common. This is particularly the 
case with a seasonal song, or one of only passing value. 

It is rarely worth while to teach a song for a single 
occasion, such as New Year, for example. It is far 
better to change the words ".New Year" to the Christ- 
mas greeting, or on both occasions utilize the familiar 
"Good morning to you" as a seasonal greeting. The 
same tune can carry birthday wishes as well. 

A repertoire.— Let us think out a well-chosen 
repertoire for our department. There will be the sin- 
gle greeting, adapted to various occasions, the opening 
prayer-song, familiar to all, because it is sung every 
Sunday, and a short seasonal song. Then there 
should be some expression of gratitude so simply 



3 From The Little Child and the Heavenly Father. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 65 



phrased that it can be sung by all frequently, and a 
good-by song, coming also each week. 

These are songs reduced to their lowest terms. Be- 
sides, there probably will be various songs interpreting 
the themes, as they come along, frequently, as was sug- 
gested, sung by the teacher alone. There are, of 
course, other endless possibilities — a Cradle-Roll song, 
giving song, Bible verses set to music, and numerous 
songs illustrating the thought of the hour. Regard 
most of these as temptations, and preserve the joy that 
simplicity gives little children. 

Quality of songs. — The best is none too good 
even for Beginners. The best means words and music 
of good musical and literary quality. The best also 
means music that is rhythmic and within the compass 
of a little child's voice, and words simple as well as 
beautiful. 

The limited number of songs possible for a Begin- 
ners' Department makes it most desirable that each one 
shall be well worth including. 

Music without words. — Music without words has 
its place in the Beginners' Department. A few chords 
are wonderfully quieting. A happy little tune arouses 
interest. The tune of a familiar hymn gives a feeling 
of reverence. Music, too, often accompanies play, and 
helps the stream to tinkle as it winds, and birds to hop, 
and trees to sway, and child-carpenters to pound 
briskly, and child-mothers to quiet babies. In any 
such use of music it is important that there shall be 
no thought of a drill or doing things well to music- 



66 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

The music is used merely to intensify the play spirit. 

The purpose of songs. — We are more likely to 
use songs with discrimination if we appreciate their 
purpose. This is chiefly to arouse or increase feeling. 
The psychological moment for a song of thanks is 
after, not before, God's gifts have been mentioned in 
conversation or story. An alert teacher will suggest 
a bright song when the children are listless. She, or 
the pianist, will be quick to perceive when conversation 
or story-telling or play or handwork are losing their 
effectiveness, and a song will best continue the thought. 
So it comes about that songs cannot be put into the 
program didactically, but being primarily an expres- 
sion of feeling, must depend upon the development of 
feeling. 

Thus songs are distributed through the program 
rather than used at the beginning and close, as in 
higher departments. The continuous session, with- 
out separating into classes, makes this possible. 

Methods of teaching songs. — The same concep- 
tion of the purpose of songs will influence methods of 
teaching them. Words that are to be used in express- 
ing emotions must be learned joyously and understand- 
ing!}^. The simplest songs will be "absorbed" without 
any drill. Teachers are too ready to "snub nature," 
as some one puts it. Often a song with words so 
simple as to need no explanation is learned through 
imitation. Sing and sing and sing, with pictures, con- 
versation or objects, to make interesting and clear 
what you are singing about, and soon childish voices 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 67 



will join. The children may need to be encouraged to 
try, but that is all. 

A song taught. — Less simple songs need explana- 
tion and teaching. This may be done mechanically, 
line by line, for example: 

"Now, children, say this after me: 

'Blooming clover blossoms.' 

" 'Blooming' is the word — say it. Now the whole 
line. Now the next: 

'Fresh and fair to see !' 

"Say this after me. Everybody! I didn't hear 
Ruth. Now the two lines, and don't forget the 
'b-loom-ing'," etc. This is an extreme example of 
drill on mere words. Suppose instead a bunch of 
clover blossoms is examined by the children and the 
teacher says quite naturally: 

c 'Blooming clover blossoms, 1 
Fresh and fair to see.' 

"Mary may hold them while we talk to them ; 

" 'Blooming clover blossoms, 
Fresh and fair to see.' 

"I am going right up to Mary and smell of the 
blooming clover blossoms and talk to them. 

" 'Blooming clover blossoms, 
Fresh and fair to see.' 



i From Song Echoes from Child Life, Oliver Ditson Company. 



68 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

"Who else wants to? Who else? Shall we all go? 
Clover blossoms have other visitors besides children. 
They are bees that buzz and go after honey. Each 
child may go to one of us teachers and let us show 
you where the bees find the honey. 

"Go back to your seats and I will tell the blooming 
blossoms something else. 

" 'While you live, you can give 
Honey to the bees.' 

"Let's all tell them — again, again. 

"I shouldn't want to step on them and crush them 

in the fields, should you? Show me how carefully you 

would step in a field of blooming clover blossoms, 

Carolyn. 

" 'And we will not crush you 
Underneath our feet, 
While we go to and fro, 
Through the fields so sweet/ 

"Let's tell them the rest of the story. Let's tell 
them all about it. I will pick out some red clover blos- 
soms. You may grow here, Mollie, and John here, 
and Sarah here. Let's tell these children-clover blos- 
soms the first of the story. 

" 'Blooming clover blossoms, 
Fresh and fair to see, 
While you live, you can give 
Honey to the bee.' 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 69 



"Let's choose some bees to buzz and hum and get 
honey. Let's walk through the fields and be careful, 
and tell the rest of the story. 

"Now I'll sing it to the little tune we hummed last 
Sunday, and Miss Brown played while we were com- 
ing in. Sing with me. Let's sing it while we walk 
through the fields. Let's sing 'Buzz to the tune. Let's 
be getting honey." 

Little children's singing. — A group of little chil- 
dren will never sing correctly, but they will sing joy- 
ously, and that is all we desire. There will always 
be monotones, usually a last line rendered as a solo by 
a child who learns through repetition, and always 
some who enjoy through listening. These are the 
children who may hold the illustrative picture or 
object, or be active in interpretative play. Occasionally 
a musical child will sing a song alone, and the chil- 
dren's musical ability be tested by telling what songs 
the piano plays. They will delight in choosing favorite 
songs by whispering their choices to the pianist, or by 
showing or drawing pictures about their songs. If a 
child spontaneously suggests a song bearing on the 
subject, how satisfied a teacher feels that music is 
fulfilling its function for her children ! 

Questions 

i. Give the least possible number of songs neces- 
sary for the Beginners' Department. 

2. Show how one song may be repeated many times 
without monotony. 



70 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

3. Explain how variety may be obtained without 
trying to teach more songs than children can learn. 

4. What place has music without words? 

5. What will decide the number of songs in the 
program ? 

6. Illustrate teaching poorly and well some other 
song than the one used as an example in this chapter. 

7. Give your idea of the test of the function of 
music. 

Problems for Discussion 

A. The child who sings loudly his own words dur- 
ing a song. 

B. The child who refuses to try to sing. 

C. The child who sings a line behind the others. 

D. How to insure the use of songs at home. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 71 



LESSON VIII 
GIVING AND THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT 

There must be a cooperative group-life in the class in 
which all participate as best they can. The children must find 
some enterprises which carry out in one way or another some 
truly Christian motive. The best condition is obtained when 
this enterprise is itself definite cooperation with others out- 
side t he class, whether in the rest of the school or with some 
neighboring family, or with neglected or overfavored children, 
or with children of distant lands who are needed to enlarge 
the fellowship of the Beginners, and who also, it may be, need 
the loving help of our children. — Hugh Hartshorne, in Child- 
hood and Character. 

The offering. — A part of every Beginners' pro- 
gram is the offering. This often assumes undue im- 
portance in the eyes of a teacher or, perhaps we should 
say more truly, she puts the wrong emphasis on its 
importance. First, then, we must consider the use 
that is made of the money brought by the children. 

In some cases all or part goes toward a fund for 
buying supplies. In other words, the children pay for 
the folders and story papers they take home, for the 
teachers' text-books, for the large pictures she uses in 
teaching, and occasionally for their share of the 
pleasures offered them by the school, such as the 
annual picnic and Christmas gifts. This is quite 
opposite from their experiences in public kindergarten, 
where the town buys all supplies through a system of 
taxation of all its property owners, parents or other- 



72 Methods for Teachers of Beg in n ers 

wise. It bars out any honest comment upon the offer- 
ing, any offering prayer or suggestions of generosity. 
It is a commercial transaction, paying for value re- 
ceived. In such cases there is usually an attempt at 
an additional or occasional offering that is actually a 
gift. 

More enlightened churches adopt the policy of the 
public school, and tax their membership for supplies 
needed for the religious education of their children. 
This policy regards the offerings brought by the chil- 
dren as a means of awakening the missionary spirit, 
and of sharing the responsibility for certain church 
expenses. If this manner of financing the school is 
impossible, a group of people especially interested in 
little children's education may be secured to furnish 
their yearly supplies, or the teachers and parents may 
undertake this. 

Giving to the church. — There is an important 
difference between buying their own educational sup- 
plies with their offerings and giving toward some 
definite church object. Even little children should feel 
some responsibility toward the up-keep of their room, 
perhaps giving the coal that heats it, each year adding 
something to its permanent equipment, and having a 
part in every great church-improvement enterprise, 
such as painting a door, or giving a certain number 
of bricks. Such giving is the prelude to regular adult 
giving to the church. 

Gifts to outside causes.— Besides this there 
should be gifts to causes outside one's own church. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 73 

Just here lies our great danger of regarding our chil- 
dren as means to an immediate rather than a far-off 
end. Instead of planning in a statesmanlike way the 
best methods of arousing the missionary spirit, we are 
apt to make use of the children in the support of 
causes that appeal to us. The Beginners' Department 
is not organized as a philanthropic institution. It is 
for religious nurture. There is no religious education 
in taking the children's offering for causes in which 
they have not the slightest interest. This is exploi- 
tation, pure and simple. A discerning teacher terms 
this highway robbery, just as she calls using the offer- 
ing to buy the supplies "turning Sunday school into a 
mere news-stand." By no stretch of the imagination 
can it be called an "offering." 

Choosing the cause. — There are plenty of causes 
which will interest little children, but every cause must 
be tested from the standpoint of the child rather than 
the cause. "Is it capable of arousing the missionary 
spirit in children four and five?" we ask, for our task 
is far greater than to support a particular cause at a 
particular time. It is to make missionaries. It is to 
so direct and develop the inborn instinct of kindly feel- 
ing toward one's fellow men that one's wish is to 
share — food, clothes, money, pleasures, thoughts, 
friends, — everything that makes one happy. The 
habit of regular giving is a part of this large program, 
but the cause must be definite and appealing. 

Gaining interest. — I can hear some teachers' men- 
tal comment, "Missionary instruction in the offering 



74 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

service/' and see a big hole in the program for this 
purpose. This is neither necessary nor wise. Leave 
customs of other lands and tales of people unlike us 
for higher departments. It is enough for the Begin- 
ners to know that there are children who haven't 
enough to eat or to keep warm — children far away or 
near by, it doesn't matter — just children like them. So 
they transform their pennies into food and clothes 
magically, as they drop them into the bank or basket. 

"Mine is bread," the teacher says. "What is yours, 
Jack?" "Ice-cream," asserts Jack, with blissful un- 
consciousness of the purchasing power of one cent. 
"Mine is oranges," cries another. "Candy!" "Eggs!" 
"Chicken !" chorus the rest. It is a very real offering 
indeed when a little tin bank is crowded full of real 
food, and an entire wardrobe of suits and new shoes, 
hair ribbons and sweaters. The magic of play does it. 
Do you see how much more effectually than stories of 
customs and manners and tragedies? Next best to 
packing a market-basket for a local family is crowding 
a bank with play-food. At Christmas the money may 
go into tiny colored silk bags on a miniature tree, and 
by the touch of a child's finger each bag be changed 
into the things it will buy, so that the children see a 
wondrous Christmas tree from which hang bottles 
of milk, mittens, candy, caps, and cookies. 

Community gifts. — Far-away children will not 
arouse the spirit of giving as much as those who can 
be really seen — the family to whom one takes the 
Christmas tree, hung with gifts bought with the pen- 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 75 

nies ; the children's hospital, that one passes on the 
way to the church school, for which a picture is 
bought ; the Home where the yard swarms with chil- 
dren who do not know some Beginners are planning to 
buy gifts for them. Such near-by "causes" are very 
interesting, and can be made more so through play. 
The children play, for instance, that they are sick abed 
in a hospital and asleep. One child places the gift 
picture on the wall. They awake and exclaim over it, 
and the thrill of delight they experience makes giving 
very attractive. 

Some of their money goes still nearer home — to their 
own sick classmates. This is the birthday money, 
which they put in a particular receptacle. They choose 
what the money shall buy — a tiny blossoming plant, a 
toy, a little book, a box of Japanese water-flowers, a 
big orange — and Monday the teacher does the buying 
and delivering. Nor does it dim the purity of a child's 
good-will to anticipate that sickness and a gift may 
some day be his portion ! 

Place in program. — A double offering, one for 
missionary enterprises and one for one's own church, 
with the birthday bank for class kindnesses, is feasible. 
Does it seem to you that this way of making giving 
interesting will use up more than the time for the 
offering given in our tentative program? It will, 
indeed, and not every Sunday will there be time for so 
much elaboration ; but at Thanksgiving and Christmas 
and at certain other times of the year the use of the 
money will be made so vivid that the dropping of 



76 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

pennies will always bring up a delightful sense of 
sharing with those in need, and the birthday pennies 
will always mean some friend made happy. 

Offering service. — In Lesson V the offering ser- 
vice was included as a part of each Sunday's program. 
Refer to the suggestions made there. Do not forget 
that upon the offering service depends the value of 
the offering in the minds of the children. Its effective- 
ness does not necessitate great length, but it does 
demand impressiveness. An offering song, or an of- 
fering prayer, or a word or two of comment effects 
this. Rarely should all three be used. Variety in the 
way of referring to the offering wins attention. The 
repetition that little children like will come in the 
manner in which the money is collected — either 
dropped in a basket during a march, or gathered up 
by appointed children. If there is an offering song 
this, too, will invariably be the same one. 

Source of the offering. — There are teachers who 
are particular that the children's offering shall be 
money earned by home tasks. This seems to me 
straining a point with Beginners. I should rather 
their first little helpful acts at home should be done 
with no money reward, and that the money they take 
for the offering should be frankly considered a de- 
lightful cooperation between their parents and them- 
selves. Father's pennies give father a share in the 
giving that is made so important and so pleasurable. 
I see no reason for the artificial play at making the 
money the value of work rendered. There is a very 






Methods for Teachers of Beginners 77 



great value in never forgetting one's money, in bring- 
ing extra for special occasions, and in paying up for 
absent Sundays. It forms the habit of regular giving. 
The objection sometimes made to calling the offering 
"pennies" seems to me trivial. Children usually do 
bring pennies, and can easily be led to want to bring 
more than one. I do not believe this early habit need 
be a cause for sticking to the penny offering through- 
out one's church-school course. 

After all, you will see that immediate causes are 
helped even when the emphasis is upon the givers 
and not the causes. Check yourself up short every 
now and then during the year and ask: "Do my 
children know to what they are giving? Do they 
delight in giving? Do they give regularly? Have I 
helped them to enter into the joy of the recipients? 
Is the offering service so perfunctory that the mission- 
ary spirit is killed? Is it so elaborate that this spirit 
is stifled? Is their giving well proportioned between 
causes near at hand and far away? 

Questions 

1. State briefly the possible uses of the offering, 
and their effect on the children. 

2. Give your idea of the most ideal way to finance 
the Beginners' Department. 

3. How can giving to one's church be made in- 
teresting? to children one never sees? to those in the 
community? to sick classmates? 

4. Can the money children bring be a real gift if 
they do not earn it? 



78 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



5. Why shall the purpose of the offering not be 
emphasized every Sunday? 

6. Explain just what you want the offering to ac- 
complish in the children's religious education. 

Assignment for Observation 

1. Note and criticize the kind and amount of music 
used and its effect. 

2. Was there a worshipful spirit and to what do 
you accredit it? If not, what was the fault? 

3. Watch for any evidence of the missionary spirit 
connected with the giving or purpose of the offering. 






Methods for Teachers of Beginners 79 

LESSON IX 
THE USE OF PICTURES 

The beautiful is as useful as the useful. I'm not sure but 
it's more so.— Victor Hugo, in Les Miserables. 

Pictures and children. — Were an argument nec- 
essary to assure pictures a place in the Beginners' De- 
partment, we might go back to the first books that 
appeal to any little child and find them to be picture- 
books, with no stories whatsoever. We might also 
offer statistics that prove beyond the shadow of a 
doubt that the appeal is greater through the eye than 
through the ear. 

Pictures belong with children in the popular mind 
as much as stories do, and one cannot imagine the 
poorest apology of a Beginners' room without them. 
One can imagine, however, pictures that are inacces- 
sible, hung so high they are quite beyond little chil- 
dren's view. One can also imagine a teacher clinging 
to the tradition that a huge, awkward picture roll is 
necessary for class teaching, although she cannot but 
realize that such a form precludes the use of more 
than one picture at a time. One who has observed 
the delight of children in touching and talking about 
pictures that illustrate old stories, and the part pictures 
play in awakening thought, is satisfied only with a less 
cumbersome form. They should be large enough to 



80 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

be seen by a moderate-sized circle, as they hang on the 
wall or are held by the teacher. In larger classes more 
than one copy is desirable. 

Limited number. — The temptation with pictures 
as with songs is to use too many. This counteracts 
their effectiveness. Because there is so much to see, 
the children notice nothing. They are confused and 
unconsciously oppressed by the mass of figure and 
color about them, and when asked to find a story pic- 
ture, or one illustrating the theme, are bewildered 
among so many possible choices. From a purely peda- 
gogical standpoint, as well as from artistic considera- 
tions, too many pictures are bad. It is fatal to make 
any problem so difficult as to discourage a child, and 
Beginners are capable of only simple problems. 

Story illustrations. — Let us think first of the pic- 
tures that illustrate the stories. These help the children 
to visualize the stories. A story picture is nearly 
always shown directly after the story has been told. 
It may be passed from child to child, but this method 
leads to impatience and disorder. A better way is to 
allow a group to gather about the teacher, as she holds 
it. In a large class there should be two or three pic- 
tures, each held by the teacher or an assistant, and 
each surrounded by its little group of interested 
children. It is, of course, possible for the children to 
remain in their chairs and look at the picture, but 
they will never do that willingly, as touch is so essential 
to complete appreciation. Another way of contenting 
everybody is to show the single large picture to a few 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 81 



children at a time, and at the same time have the 
folders distributed, so that each one has a picture, 
large or small, to examine. 

Waiting for comments. — Most teachers need cau- 
tioning against being too ready to make comments on 
the pictures. These ought to come spontaneously from 
the children. A question about what they see, or who 
can find the principal story character, is permissible, 
but it is usually better to wait and let the children say 
what they will, unhindered. 

"There he is! That's Jesus." " Where's the giant?" 
"I see the squirrel." "I see little Lord Jesus." "Where 
are the cows and sheep?" These are the most usual 
types of comments — interest in the people and animals 
of the story. The small folder reproductions elicit 
such remarks as, "I've found my squirrel," "I see my 
little Lord Jesus" — showing a sense of individual 
appropriation. Rarely a response of feeling will come, 
as, "Isn't he a nice man?" "I wouldn't be so mean to 
my brother. You wouldn't catch me" (with one arm 
about his brother, commenting on the picture of Joseph 
sold into slavery). 

Explanatory pictures. — Occasionally a story pic- 
ture paves the way for a better understanding of the 
story, or is in itself an introduction. This is never 
the case, of course, when the picture reveals the story 
plot. A picture of the Wise-men on their camels may 
be necessary to enable the children to vizualize camels. 
The picture of a mother giving her child a drink will 
arouse interest in a story of God's daily gifts. A pic- 



82 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

ture of trees makes a good preparation for a story of 
God's care of trees, and one of a mother and baby 
is an excellent approach to the story of Jesus and the 
children. 

Place in the room. — After the story has been told 
and commented upon, its illustration will be hung low, 
and remain in the room for a few Sundays, but not per- 
manently. It is important that it shall be there for a 
time, to recall the story, but it will be removed when 
it ceases to illustrate the theme of the day and tends 
to confusion of thought. It may appear again on a 
Sunday when stories are retold, and be more appre- 
ciated for having been temporarily out of sight. 

Illustrations of the story truth. — Another type of 
picture illustrates the truth of the story, rather than 
its incidents. This is often the case when a story 
appears in the course a second time. Children giving 
milk to a pet cat illustrates kindness to animals from 
a child's standpoint, and the picture of David and the 
lamb is available from a previous use. Children doing 
errands, amusing babies, saying grace, helping old 
people, and otherwise carrying out the story themes 
are very valuable in making the themes clear and are 
usable in awakening thought and inspiring to action. 
They give, also, a childlike appearance to the room, 
not always obtained from the Bible story pictures. 
However, it might be said in passing that it is an 
erroneous idea that children are interested only in 
pictures of children, animals, and nature. If a story 
has appealed they want to see how the characters 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 83 



looked, and find more real satisfaction over David, 
Joseph, Elijah, and Daniel than in attractive little 
nameless boys and girls. Old Mother Hubbard and 
Jack Sprat and his wife are not childlike figures, per se, 
but they are beloved by children. 

This type of picture we need to use with restraint, 
the more so because it is so easy to add to their num- 
ber from such outside sources as magazine covers and 
advertisements. Suppose your object is to impress the 
charm of kindness by pictures. You have added to 
recent pictures of stories on this theme a new picture 
of a child feeding chickens, one of a baby being amused 
by a sister, and a third of a child handing another an 
orange. These pictures hang on the low strip of 
burlap included in your circle. You say, "Jack, find 
the picture of somebody who was kind," and Jack, 
after mature deliberation or instantly, according to his 
temperament, touches Elisha on his way to his little 
room, or the shepherd bringing home his lost sheep, 
or a child in one of the new pictures. If you change 
to the question, "Who can find a kind person?" you 
will have a grand rush toward the pictures. Some 
child may surprise you by discovering in one of the 
permanent pictures the answer to your question — per- 
haps Jesus in the midst of the children. A shy child 
may need to be encouraged to show what he really 
knows, and a cock-sure child to prove his knowledge, 
but this use of pictures is sure to awaken thought. 

Seasonal pictures. — Another kind of picture is 
the seasonal picture. Many of these are story pic- 



84 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

tures, as much of the teaching is through nature. To 
this picture may be added an infinite number obtained 
from magazines and. prints, and here again comes the 
temptation of crowding the room with the wealth of 
material available. The seasonal story pictures will, 
of course, hang on the wall as they occur in the course. 
A use of additional nature pictures that will be novel 
and so call attention to them is to keep them hidden 
and produce them, one by one, to an eager circle 
required to await their appearance with closed eyes. 
Another fascinating use of such pictures is to have 
them laid upon a low table or window-seat, concealed 
by a screen, and then, as the weather or a seasonal 
event is mentioned, to send a child to the table to find 
and bring back "a bluebird," or "a picture of sliding 
on the snow/' or "children in the rain," as the case 
may be. Such pictures are usually colored, and pic- 
tures of flowers and birds are not attractive to children 
unless they are. Squirrels, cats, horses, and cows, on 
the other hand, are as interesting uncolored. These 
colored pictures are more effective in contrast to 
others in sepia. 

Use of pictures. — Great variety in teaching meth- 
ods comes from the ingenious use of pictures. They 
serve to indicate the children's choice of old stories. 
Otherwise their replies to what stories they want re- 
told are not definite. They form a delightful way of 
choosing songs, particularly seasonal songs. The pic- 
tures of Jesus will suggest songs about him, or prayers 
to him. Once in a while an unusually thoughtful child 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 85 



will connect a picture expressing kindness or bravery 
or happiness with a song that has the same theme. A 
"picture walk," passing from one picture which sug- 
gests a song to another, is very interesting. 

Bible verses are saved from becoming mere repe- 
titions by connecting them with pictures. "Find all 
the pictures that make you think 'God is love/ " the 
teacher says, and the response is surprising. " 'Your 
heavenly Father feedeth them/ 3 ' she repeats. "Say 
this to any pictures of birds or animals in this room." 
There is an eager search, and not only nature pictures 
are pointed out, but the verse is repeated about the 
dogs and cow and donkey in LeRolle's "Nativity," 
and other animals or birds which are simply picture 
details. " 'God is my helper/ " the children say, point- 
ing to story characters who might say this — to Ish- 
mael, Daniel, and Noah. 

Thus are pictures only incidentally decorations. 
They awaken thought, and, as was suggested in the 
chapter on prayer, they are one of the means of 
creating a worshipful atmosphere. 

Questions 

i. How will the use of pictures determine their 
form? 

2. What is the function of story pictures? 

3. How and when shall they be shown? 

4. What type of picture should be shown before 
the story? 

5. How long should a story picture remain in the 
room? 



86 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

6. To what use can pictures illustrating a story's 
truth be put ? Illustrate concretely. 

7. Give your ideas as to the number and value of 
seasonal pictures. 

8. Should all pictures be colored? 

9. Suggest various uses of pictures. 

Problems for Discussion 

A. A department cannot afford large teaching pic- 
tures and individual small pictures, with the attached 
story, to be taken home. Which should you choose? 

B. Sources for extra pictures. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 87 



LESSON X 
THE STORY PERIOD 

The here and now disappears as the narrator lifts his invisi- 
ble wand, and the listener journeys by roads of never ceasing 
wonders into lands of enchantment. — Katherine Dunlap Cather, 
in Educating by Story-Telling. 

When once you have said a thing, that fixes it, and you 
must take the consequences. — Lewis Carroll, in Alice Through 
the Looking-Glass. 

Let me never tag a moral to a story, nor tell a story without 
a meaning. — Henry van Dyke, A Writer s Request of His 
Master. 

Place of the story. — In our tentative program 
the story period was made the climax. The reason 
for this was to send the children home when the finest 
impression had been made, with nothing following to 
destroy it. There is little question that the story makes 
the finest impression. 

Its length. — The story itself does not fill the en- 
tire period. Little children cannot listen attentively 
more than six or eight minutes, and five or even three 
minutes are long enough for the usual story. In order 
to be told in so short a time the Beginners' story, more 
than any other, needs to be carefully prepared. Not 
an instant can be spent in rambling, not a word too 
many put in. The words that can usually be spared 
are adjectives. The sections that can most wisely 
be skipped are the descriptions. The sentences that 
are best attended to are the short ones. 



88 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

How to tell it. — This short story that fills a part 
of the story period is full of action, and told simply 
yet dramatically. The story-teller does not feel hur- 
ried, even if she does occasionally hurry her words. 
Speaking rapidly, as one relates interesting events, is 
a very different matter from haste for fear one may 
not get through in time. If the story contains pathos, 
it is told with feeling, although the story-teller's voice 
does not quaver. Because she feels, so do her children. 
If it is a story of bravery and fine action, her children 
are thrilled as she is. If the story is impressive, such 
as those of the Lord Jesus, the children reflect the 
story-teller's tender appreciation. A story of familiar, 
every-day happenings is told in a quiet and intimate 
fashion. 

The secret of story-telling is the abandon of the 
story-teller. She tells her story well when she forgets 
herself. She tells it best when she forgets both 
herself and her children. Then the story grips 
her. She lives in it. She is not telling the story. She 
is living the story. The inevitable effect upon the 
children is that they forget her and remember the 
story. It grips them. They live in it. They reflect 
her feeling, because her feeling is that of the story 
characters. If she exaggerates this feeling for the 
sake of effect, curiously enough, the effect is lost, and 
her listeners remain unmoved. Artificiality is always 
detected. 

In the few moments allotted her she has the oppor- 
tunity of making a vivid and lasting impression. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 89 

Through her story she sums up the thought of the 
hour, or gives a new idea. As the new story picture is 
added to those upon the wall, just so truly a new 
story picture is hung in the picture galleries of the 
children's minds. No artist who succeeds in repro- 
ducing a masterpiece can have more complete satis- 
faction than she, when she paints the old Bible char- 
acters vividly. No landscape painter can enjoy better 
making a bit of beauty permanent than she enjoys 
showing her children God in nature. 

Gaining attention. — However, story-telling is a 
subject too big for a single chapter of a single book, 
and an entire unit of this training course is devoted to 
it. 1 The function of this lesson is to discuss the 
story period, of which the story itself is only a part. 

A part of the program so vital and yet so brief, so 
impressive and yet so simple, needs to be protected 
from harm, as a precious jewel is put in a setting. 
This setting we call the story preparation. In the 
chapter on the program we spoke of physical prepara- 
tion through movement or play, which prevents in- 
attention caused by restlessness. There is mental 
preparation which is fully as important. We want the 
children to anticipate the story, and to get the most 
possible out of it. 

The teacher may arouse anticipation by a change 
of grouping. "Let's all sit close together on the rug, 
while I tell you the story/' she may say; or, "Move 



l Story-Telling, by Katherine Dunlap Cather. 



90 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



your chairs nearer to me, for the story." She may 
simply make an announcement, as, "Listen, and I will 
tell you a story"; or, "Are — you — ready — for — the — 
story?" She may put an end to the confusion of 
settling down after play by remarking, impressively, 
"When the clock is the only sound I hear, I shall begin 
my story" ; or, "I have closed my eyes. When I can't 
hear a child move, I shall open them and begin my 



storv." 



She may hint at the story subject as "the story of a 
baby," or "a sheep story," or "another story about 
Jesus." She may get the children to talk about family 
life, or rainy days, or ants, or whatever may be the 
subject of the story to be told. 

She may show a picture that will arouse interest 
and yet not give away the story plot. You remember 
in the lesson on pictures several subjects were men- 
tioned that can be used in this way. 

Story preparation. — These are all devices for 
gaining attention and arousing interest. There is an- 
other kind of story preparation that may be necessary. 
This is an explanation of something unfamiliar to the 
children, which comes into the story. Explanations in 
the midst of a story are decidedly out of order, so any 
such things should be cleared up beforehand. For 
instance, the camels in the story of the Wise-men, or 
the sheep in the story of the Good Shepherd, may not 
be familiar, so there will be a little conversation about 
sheep or camels, with pictures or toy animals for 
illustration. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 91 

Another kind of story preparation is to focus the 
thought upon the truth in the story, so that the chil- 
dren will be more certain to get its message. Sup- 
pose the story is about Jacob sending Joseph to find 
his brothers. Before it is told the children play "doing 
errands" for the teacher, who represents the mother. 
She praises their quick obedience, care, and cheerful- 
ness, and they are more ready to see these same 
virtues in Joseph. 

The story may be "Ruth in the Barley Field," and 
it is preceded by crude drawings of things the children 
use in helping their mothers. By this means they are 
made more alert to appreciate Ruth's helpfulness. The 
story may be about the baby Moses, and the prepara- 
tion telling what their mothers did to get them ready 
for Sunday school. 

Story preparation will not be lengthy, nor will it be 
the same each Sunday. It will be carefully planned, 
though subject to change. Its test is whether it makes 
a good setting for the story, so that the truth in the 
story will not be lost and its charm will be enhanced. 

Repetition and interruptions. — Little children's 
response to a story may be, "Tell it again !" If there 
is time and if the demand from one is seconded by the 
others, by word or look, no true story-teller will hesi- 
tate. She will probably need to suggest a moment of 
play, or change of position before the second relation, 
but she is certain of a more attentive audience to a 
twice-told tale than to one that is unfamiliar. 

So much is said in these days about allowing chil- 



92 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

dren freedom that the question arises whether even for 
five minutes the teacher has a right to be the only 
speaker. We must realize that interrupting a story is 
a different matter from taking part in the circle talk. 
The child who interrupts a story about birds with a 
comment upon his new coat deserves to be rebuked or 
ignored. He is adding nothing to the enjoyment of 
the moment. He is an interrupter and not a contribu- 
tor. Suppose, on the other hand, he breaks in with, 
"A bird built a nest right in my tree." The sympa- 
thetic story-teller welcomes that incident as part of her 
bird story. 

The story of Noah's ark is not interrupted when a 
child adds to the animal pairs entering it the elephants 
which the teacher failed to mention. The story of 
"The Rain a Helper" gains in interest if child voices 
join in the repetitive phrase, "And still the water- 
drops lay quietly in the pond." The story of Jesus and 
the fishermen does not lag because children imitate 
the teacher's action as she lowers and raises a net in 
pantomime. Interruptions should be suppressed, but 
the question to be considered is, What are interrup- 
tions ? 

After the story. — The most carefully set jewel 
might still be lost were it not fastened securely to the 
wearer's breast. So too the story, vivid and yet sim- 
ple, set in careful preparation, may be forgotten unless 
it is given a permanent place in the listeners' hearts. 
After the story the one thing to be done is to intensify 
the feeling it has created. This may often be achieved 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 93 

by a song which expresses the same thought, by a brief 
prayer, or a Bible verse. It may be the story picture 
that crystallizes the story truth so perfectly it can 
never be forgotten. It may be an additional picture. 

Questions, reviews, or handwork that merely serve 
to recall the story incidents are a waste of these last 
moments. Leave such things till next week's circle 
talk. Do you wish to play Chopin with one hand after 
listening to Paderewski? That unpleasant and un- 
pedagogical process known as "pointing the moral" is 
simply an admission of failure on the story-teller's 
part. Her story was her chance for appeal. 

Occasionally a form of activity may be suggested. 
For example, after the story of Mary's gift to Jesus 
each child may draw in color a flower on a card bear- 
ing the words, "A flower I will bring for my minister 
next Sunday." An act of service may well follow a 
story of service and form the climax of the session. 
An instance of this is to follow the story of the good 
Samaritan by selecting from several gifts already 
bought with the birthday money one suitable for a sick 
classmate, wrapping it carefully in tissue-paper and 
tying it with a bright ribbon. 

Summary. — To sum up the whole subject of the 
story period, it is the teacher's opportunity to present 
new thoughts, closely related to the thoughts expressed 
by the children in the circle talk. Through her story 
she arouses feeling — of love to God, perhaps, or ten- 
der regard for animal life, or friendliness. Her task 
is to make sure that the feeling will be expressed 



94 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

somehow and at some time. If it is love of God, it 
can be expressed immediately in hymn or prayer; if 
tenderness toward animals, its expression will come at 
home, and the resolve to care for pets will be strength- 
ened by such a song as "I Love Little Pussy/' or such 
a verse as "Be ye kind;" if friendliness is the feeling 
awakened, a friendly act can be planned or executed 
before the session closes. Thus feeling is aroused, and 
the feeling is carried over into action. 

Questions 

1. Why is the story placed toward the close of 
the session? 

2. Experiment upon the length of time you can 
hold a Beginner's attention with a story. 

3. Give the essentials of good story-telling. 

4. What are some devices for gaining attention? 

5. Explain two types of story preparation. 

6. Under what circumstances would you repeat a 
story ? 

7. What are and what are not children's interrup- 
tions to the story? Explain concretely. 

8. Prepare two good uses and one poor use of the 
few moments after a particular story. 

Assignment for Observation 

1. Visit a Beginners' Department and observe the 
story period, for the points brought out in the lesson. 

2. Visit a kindergarten and observe the story prep- 
aration, the story-telling and what follows. 






Methods for Teachers of Beginners 95 



LESSON XI 

THE CIRCLE TALK 

Every pupil must have a chance to show what he truly is, 
so that the teacher can find out what he needs to make him a 
complete human being. — John Dewey, in Schools of To- 
morrow. 

What it is. — The circle talk is, in three words, 
the child's opportunity. In the last lesson we spoke 
of the story as the teacher's opportunity to present new 
ideas and arouse feeling, and said that she has a right 
to suppress interruptions. The circle talk is as truly 
the child's chance to express himself, and she errs if 
she interferes with this. The wise teacher feels that 
through the circle talk she becomes acquainted with 
the child, so that she "can find out what he needs to 
make him a complete human being." 

This does not mean that she folds her hands and 
allows her children to say and do whatever they wish. 
The result of this would be anarchy, as described in 
Lesson III. It means, rather, that she encourages 
great freedom in the way they contribute to the pre- 
vailing thought, through play, retelling stories, songs, 
prayers, handwork, conversation, and Bible verses. 
When their remarks or activities make no such con- 
tribution, she ignores them, or turns them into the 
desired channel. 

The circle talk may perhaps best be described by 



96 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

telling what it is not. It is not formal. It is not 
without a plan. It is not affected by the whim of a 
single child, in spite of the fact that a single child's 
remark often influences it. It is not primarily for 
teaching songs and Bible verses, although stories are 
retold and Bible verses used. It is not a review to find 
out how much the children know, even though they do 
reveal here their acquaintance with Bible stories and 
verses. It is not to teach them how to use their hands, 
though handwork is prominent. It is not a play pe- 
riod, though they frequently play. It is not for nature 
study, though nature is prominent. 

The circle talk is a period of much freedom, within 
the bounds of a common subject. Its purpose is to 
interpret this subject — love, kindness, God's care, or 
whatever it may be — through song, play, story, con- 
versation, objects and pictures, prayer and handwork. 
It encourages the children to participate in this inter- 
pretation. 

An illustration. — Let us suppose the general 
theme to be "God's Gift of the Wind, Sun, and Rain/' 
The last Sunday the story was "The Sun a Helper"; 
the week before "The Wind a Helper." To-day the 
new idea presented in the story period will be the help 
received from God's gift of rain. In her plan for 
the circle talk the teacher seeks to bring vividly before 
the children the gifts of wind and sun, so that they will 
experience wonder and gladness. To accomplish this 
she makes out a program, in the following order: 

I. Tell and play last week's story. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 97 

2. Compare a pot of seeds left in a dark closet with 
one placed in the sunlight. 

3. Sing a spring song. 

4. Draw flowers. 

5. In connection with the story pictures use the 
Bible verses, "He maketh his sun to rise," and, "He 
causeth his wind to blow." 

6. Observe the effect of the wind and the colors 
made by the sun, shown through a prism. 

She feels certain the children will make unexpected 
remarks. She anticipates one or more opportunities 
for prayer. She expects them to modify her plan, and 
they do, so that the circle talk works out as follows: 

1. Observation of the work of the wind, which 
rattles the window. All go to the window ; tell how 
the wind blew them along to Sunday school ; point out 
the swaying trees and say, "He causeth his wind to 
blow,'' and express their wonder in an improvised 
prayer. 

2. Examining the wind picture and referring to 
that story. 

3. Playing and retelling "The Sun a Helper," be- 
cause a child points to that story picture, which hangs 
next the wind picture. 

4. One child is chosen to get the box of seeds put 
in a dark closet last week. The others close their eyes 
until it is placed in the circle. He is chosen because 
he has taken no part in playing the story and seems 
uninterested. Another child is selected to bring the 
pot of seedlings into the circle. She is chosen because 



98 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

she needs to get away from her neighbor, who is 
teasing her. 

5. Bible verse, "He maketh his sun to rise," used as 
the children speak of the seeds which the sun has 
waked up. 

6. Song of thanks. The atmosphere of wondering 
interest as the seedlings are discovered makes this 
necessary. 

7. Drawing and cutting flowers. One child asks to 
cut instead of draw and is given colored paper and 
scissors. 

The spring song and the prism are not used, because 
of lack of time. 

A second illustration. — The general theme is 
Love Shown through Care. The previous Sunday 
the lesson was on care of animals and the new idea to 
be presented this week is cooperation with God in 
tender care for people, with the good Samaritan as the 
story. I will indicate how the circle talk was modified 
by numbering the original plan and lettering the modi- 
fication. 

l Conversation about the children's pets. Bring- 
ing them to mind through blackboard drawings. 

A. Conversation about pets, which were brought to 
mind through mimicry. A child begins by mimicking 
his dog's bark, the others follow suit, and so the plan 
of blackboard drawing is abandoned. 

2. Playing feed pets. 

B. Drawing the food children have given animal 
pets. As the children whisper to the teacher what 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 99 



their pets are, she draws them on the blackboard and 
the children add the food — yellow corn in front of the 
hen, a bone on the dog's plate, milk in the cat's saucer. 
She changes her plan because the children have just 
been impersonating. 

3. Song, "I Love Little Pussy," sung as the children 
find pictures of cats in various parts of the room. 

C. Song sung in connection with the drawing of the 
saucer of milk, and again here. 

4. Drawing the shepherd's crook and stafif, and 
other details of "The Story of a Shepherd and His 
Sheep." 

D. The story retold just as it was the last Sunday. 
This takes the place of illustration, because the chil- 
dren have just been drawing. 

5. Choosing Songs. 

E. Pictures, songs, and conversation. After the 
story picture is pointed out, a child says he can find a 
picture of the little Lord Jesus ; another says he sees 
one of birds. As the interest centers in pictures, a 
choice of songs is not suggested. One child sees an 
apple in a picture, and says he ate a red apple. "Song 
of the Children's Food" is started by the pianist, and 
one child after another names an article of food. The 
teacher adds food she has had, and they all sing a song 
of thanks. She then draws their thoughts back to the 
theme by saying: "God gives us our food. He de- 
pends upon us to see that our pets get some of this 
food, and to take care of them. He depends upon us 
to help take care of sick people too. Play I was a sick 



100 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

mother. Who will give me a drink of water? a shawl? 
Who will fan me? go upstairs to get my handker- 
chief?" This pantomime furnishes movement and a 
good preparation for the story. 

Thus we find that without a plan the teaching would 
be ineffective, and it would be equally so without ready 
response to the children's attitudes and needs. 

Use of pictures and objects. — Let us consider the 
various methods one can use to interpret the lesson 
theme. 

First, there is the use of pictures, illustrated in de- 
tail in Lesson IX. The children will frequently 
choose this, method when the teacher has planned 
otherwise. 

Second, there is the use of objects. A real bird's 
nest is much more interesting than a flat, pictured 
nest that cannot be handled or swung to and fro. A 
real cotton boll is soft to touch. Real flowers have 
fragrance. Real shells contain songs of the sea. Such 
objects make the Creator's skill convincing. Some- 
thing of their teaching value depends upon the way 
they are presented. A sense of importance is at- 
tached to a pot of seedlings that is hidden under a 
handkerchief, while one wonders whether the seeds 
can have sprouted. The nest in a covered box, which 
one child is appointed to open ; the seashells hidden 
about the room, which the children discover and take 
into the circle ; the Easter lily that is brought from an 
adjoining room after the story of a brown bulb has 
been told, are all given the charm of mystery. The 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 101 

teacher's attitude of wonder and delight will also be 
reflected in the children. 

Use of stories, Bible verses, and prayer. — During 
the circle talk the story of the preceding Sunday is 
retold or played or illustrated or talked about. Often 
other old stories are referred to, and occasionally re- 
told in part. Most frequently the last story is retold 
exactly as before, with the assistance of the children, 
who delight in completing sentences and joining in 
familiar phrases like a small Greek chorus. The 
teacher should 4 keep clearly in mind that this retelling 
is not an examination on a knowledge of the story. It 
is a repetition of interest in it. Whether the children 
listen to it, assist in retelling it, illustrate it, play it, 
or talk about its picture, they should experience even 
more fully than before the feeling it is designed to 
arouse. 

The same principle holds with Bible verses. They 
are for use in strengthening ideas and renewing feel- 
ing. They are not repeated as recitations. "God is 
love," the children say, as they draw his gifts to them, 
or point them out in pictures. "Love one another/' 
they repeat, after showing in pantomime helpful acts 
to members of the family. 

The use of songs is discussed in detail in Lesson 
VII. They occur frequently in the circle talk, as 
worship, to interpret thought and to express joy. 
Poems are used less frequently. They might occur 
more often. Stevenson's verses and the words of sim- 
ple songs may be repeated instead of sung by the 



102 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

teacher and some of them taught the children. The 
use of prayer in the circle talk is taken up in Lesson 
VI. Its frequency is determined by the atmosphere of 
the department. 

Play and handwork. — Play has been frequently 
referred to in these lessons as a favorite form of chil- 
dren's self-expression. Handwork is classed with it, 
because in order to be effective it must contain much 
of the play spirit. Play as used in the church school 
is not mere physical exercise, nor is handwork train- 
ing in skill. They are both means of expressing a 
child's thoughts and feelings, and a sure indication 
as to whether the lesson truths are making of him 
"a complete human being." 

A child takes the part of the blind man groping his 
way to the pool, washing and receiving sight. Other 
children follow this bit of impersonation by drawing 
on the blackboard objects they think he liked best to 
see. In both ways they enter into the joy of the man 
on receiving his sight, and there follows appreciation 
of Jesus' great kindness. 

The children add red apples to the tree the teacher 
has drawn on the board, or cut red-paper apples and 
paste to the tree outlined on cardboard. Instead of 
this one child represents the tree and the children 
gather from his arm-branches imaginary apples, and 
fill imaginary baskets. Whichever is done, they are 
filled with joy for the harvest. 

One after another the children show in pantomime 
helpful deeds they can perform for their mothers and 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 103 

the rest guess what these are. They draw objects they 
use in such acts, which are guessed by the others. In 
either case through the imagination helpfulness is 
made attractive. 

Handwork or play which is not the expression o£ 
thought is mere pastime, without educational value. 

Conversation. — Throughout the varied activities 
of the circle talk runs a stream of conversation, and a 
teacher needs to remember that conversation implies 
more than one person talking. She makes use of the 
children's comments, questions and remarks to inter- 
pret the thought of the hour. She is also quick to see 
when they indicate that a child has received an erro- 
neous impression, or has an unsatisfied need. 

It is here in the circle talk that every pupil has "a 
chance to show what he truly is, so that the teacher 
can find out what he needs to make him a complete 
human being." 



Questions 

i. Write out the various activities of the circle 
talk. 

2. What is the function of play? handwork? 

3. Why are songs used? poems? 

4. When do the children pray? 

5. Contrast the use of pictures and objects. 

6. What importance has conversation? 

7. Tell several things the circle talk is not. 

8. Tell what the circle talk is. 



104 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

Problems for Discussion 

A. How much attention should be paid to chil- 
dren's remarks that are unrelated to the subject. 

B. Good and bad handwork. 

C. How far the teacher should direct play. 

f AsSIGNMENT FOR OBSERVATION 

Criticize the various activities of the circle talk as 
to whether they (a) interpret the lesson truth, (b) are 
modified by the children, (c) hold the interest and yet 
proceed in a logical sequence. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 105 

LESSON XII 
THE CHILD DURING THE WEEK 

Our selection of facts for study is based on our interest in 
tjie child's religious development. It is his religious acts that 
most concern us. — Hugh Hartshorne, in Childhood and Char- 
acter. 

The Sunday hour. — So much has been said and 
written about the inadequacy of a single hour a week 
for religious education that we are in danger of under- 
rating the effect upon little children of the church- 
school session which recurs every week. It makes 
Sunday for them a red-letter day, its coming antici- 
pated, its going regretted. Inadequate it is, but it is 
not ineffective. Its very rarity gives it a certain value, 
and as Thanksgiving and Christmas influence the en- 
tire year, so this Sunday hour shines down through 
the week. 

Thinking of it in this way gives us the clue to its 
best use. It cannot be finished and complete; it can 
simply start something, to be carried on during the 
week. It is not an hour for the acquisition of facts, 
but, rather, one in which new impulses are gained and 
new feelings awakened. A session that is merely 
pleasurable will be only a pleasant memory. A session 
that grips the imagination and suggests certain action 
has far-reaching results. 

A teacher's questions. — A teacher should there- 



106 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

fore test her work by its power to project itself into 
the days between Sundays. Such questions as the 
following will be of assistance : Was my theme con- 
nected closely with the children's every-day life? How 
will it affect the things they do? Will it interpret 
religiously the things they see? Why am I certain 
they will remember the session? What particular 
Christian act did I succeed in making desirable? How 
shall I know they ever perform such an act? Why 
do I feel certain that they will think about God during 
the week? How shall I know they do? 

The children in kindergarten. — No teacher can 
put these questions to herself without rinding that she 
has no data for the answer. If she is truly conscien- 
tious, she will fare forth to get acquainted with the 
week-day children, who often seem scarcely related to 
the Sunday children. 

There are three places where she may find them — 
in their homes, in hers, and in kindergarten. If the;y 
attend kindergarten, she will certainly visit them 
there, not once but frequently, so that she can know 
what ideas they are getting, where the subjects dove- 
tail in with those she presents and where they differ, 
what kindergarten methods are suitable for her Sun- 
day hour, and which of her children do not attend. 
She finds from her own observation and from talking 
with the kindergartner traits in her children which 
her slight acquaintance has barely suggested. These 
visits help her to see reasons for the difference be- 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 107 

tween those of her children who attend kindergarten 
and those who do not. 

The children at home. — The best answer to the 
teacher's questions is to be found in the children's 
homes. Unless she is a frequent visitor there, how- 
ever, she hardly gets below the surface, for in a call 
upon a mother and child the mother dominates the 
situation aad the child rarely shows his real self. 
Nor does she approve of comments upon the child in 
his presence. She needs to see the mother alone to 
find out what she wants to know. Where she is inti- 
mate enough to go in and out freely, to join in the 
child's play, to tell him stories, to put him to bed and 
hear his bedtime prayer, she gets to know this par- 
ticular child verv well indeed, and realizes the effect 
of her teaching. 

The children as visitors. — Such intimacy is not 
possible with all of her children. Another way of 
becoming acquainted with them is to have them in 
her own home. She may invite them to an occasional 
party. She learns to know them better individually 
if they visit her in smaller groups, or alone. She 
enjoys having her children regard their teacher's home 
as a place of delight, where they are always welcome. 
Here she finds out very soon the sort of appeal her 
teaching makes, and often has a chance to supplement 
it. They test the new song she thinks of using. They 
give her constant practice in story-telling. They reveal 
themselves through play. They ask intimate questions 



108 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

and make her their confidant. Yes, and her questions 
are all answered. 

Need for a week-day session. — There are commu- 
nities which have no kindergarten ; there are teachers 
too busy to make frequent calls upon their children; 
and there is many a teacher whose home cannot be a 
place of rendezvous for her children. Even the teacher 
who can see her children in all three ways has a sense 
of dissatisfaction, for the questions she is asking her- 
self are not always answered to her liking. She 
realizes that in their homes and kindergartens she is 
an observer merely, and even in her own home she is 
unable to see many of her children. She feels the 
need for a week-day hour, when all her children can 
be with her, and can be given opportunities to perform 
acts of service. This is her interpretation of what a 
week-day school of religion for little children ought 
to be. 

She arranges a convenient week-day hour, and 
selects the church-school room as a meeting-place. 
She feels that the children's activities for other people 
ought to be associated with their impulse to serve. In 
the room on Sunday she tries to give them a conscious- 
ness of God and a wish to help others. In this same 
room on a week-day she wants them to become godlike 
through service. 

Training in service. — She plans with infinite care 
activities easy enough for them to perform and inter- 
esting enough for them to enjoy. She also plans 
games, an occasional story, and a song now and then, 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 109 



but the main occupation of the hour is doing some- 
thing for somebody. It is a training in service, and 
follows closely the Sunday subjects. 

When the story has been of home life, gifts are 
made for members of the family — simple things little 
children can readily make. These may be pin-balls, 
in which they stick the pins, for their mothers ; paper 
toys they color and cut out for little brothers and sis- 
ters ; blotters pasted on attractive post-cards for their 
fathers. When the story has been about Jesus' healing 
of the sick, or the story of the good Samaritan has 
been told, pictures are pasted on cards for hospital 
children, a box of scrapbook material is packed for a 
sick classmate, or paper toys are colored and cut out 
for crippled children. When the theme has been kind- 
ness to animals, a tree is hung with food for winter 
birds, or a bird's drinking-place is put on the church 
grounds, or an expedition is made to the woods with 
nuts for squirrels and chipmunks, or to the zoo, to 
become acquainted with animal life. 

At Thanksgiving a gift of vegetables and fruit is 
delivered. At Christmas a tree is trimmed and pre- 
sented to a needy family or a children's institution. 
At Easter the bulbs planted in the fall and cared for 
all winter are given away to old people of the church. 

On these week-days there is plenty of time for the 
activities that could be only hinted at on Sunday. 
Sometimes a bit of handwork that illustrates a story 
can be utilized as a gift, such as a horse cut-out, made 
in parts fastened together with brass paper fasteners, 



110 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

after the story of Prince the horse, or a squirrel scrap- 
book made after a squirrel story, or animal cut-outs 
after the story of Noah's ark. 

Not only do the work of the children's hands serve 
as gifts, but they practice songs to sing to old people 
and stories to tell, in prose and verse. Sometimes the 
hour resolves itself into a ride to a home where there 
is somebody who will appreciate an entertainment by 
little children. Sometimes they adjourn to a near-by 
daisy field and pick big bunches of flowers to send to 
the city. Sometimes they gather autumn leaves and 
arrange them in a basket as a surprise for the minister. 
Sometimes they pack a box of seashells and pebbles 
which they collected on their vacation, for children 
who have never been to the seashore. 

Short-term clubs and helpers. — The teacher who 
finds a week-day session every week impossible, has a 
Christmas club for a few weeks before Christmas, or 
an Easter club in the springtime, or a vacation club 
in the summer, in which she provides similar activities. 

No teacher can carry on such week-day work with- 
out help. Where her assistants are unable to do this 
she may gain the cooperation of the mothers who are 
obliged to come with their children, or of young people 
in the church school. Camp-fire girls or organized 
girls' classes make excellent assistants. Teaching ex- 
perience or qualifications are not necessary in over- 
seeing the children's occupations and in preparing 
work for them to do. This is a splendid opportunity 
for young people to engage in church work which is 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 111 



within their capacity, which engages their interest, 
and helps them to become acquainted with children. 

The results. — In this week-day contact with her 
children the teacher not only finds her questions re*- 
garding the effects of her teaching answered, but she 
becomes better acquainted with her children, so that 
she can teach them more wisely. She has no longer 
a theoretical knowledge of individuals; she has child 
psychology at first-hand. Individuals separate them- 
selves from the mass, and challenge her to individual 
methods. 

The effect upon the children is a feeling of intimate 
friendship with the teacher and assistants that can 
never be gained in the more formal Sunday sessions. 
These week-day hours of work together for others 
make religion practical to them. It is pretty certain 
that faith and works will never be divorced in their 
minds. 

Questions 

1. What should the Sunday session accomplish? 

2. Give a teacher's test questions upon her success 
with her children. Would you add others? 

3. In what places can she find the answers? 

4. What help can she expect from observing her 
children in kindergarten? 

5. How far will calling upon children in their 
homes answer her questions? 

6. Why are children visitors to be desired? 

7. What is the need of a week-day session? 

8. Explain in detail a week-day session. 



112 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



9. What can be substituted? 

10. How can assistants be secured? 

11. What results should a teacher gain from this 
means of contact with children, for herself and for the 
children? 

Assignment for Observation 

1. Observing the same children who have been 
observed in a Beginners' Department (a) in kinder- 
garten, (b) in their homes, (c) in your own. After- 
ward jot down what you have learned about little chil- 
dren in general and individual children. 

2. Observing a week-day church-school session for 
Beginners. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 113 

LESSON XIII 
RECORDS AND RECOGNITION 

The superintendent and the secretary must be sympathetic 
coworkers if the records of the school are to have educational 
value. — Walter S. Athearn, in The Organisation and Admin' 
ist ration of the Church School. 

The need for records. — The Beginners' Depart- 
ment is such an informal organization that at first 
thought there seems little need for records, and none 
for recognition. Referring to Lesson I, however, one 
recalls that the secretary did make out records, and a 
hint was given of the scope of these records. 

We will consider the things that should be recorded, 
and under each subject take up the sort of records 
desirable (i) for the teachers, (2) for the children, 
(3) for the parents, (4) for the school. 

Enrollment. — 1. (For the teachers.) The most 
loosely organized department has a list of members. 
This may consist simply of the children's names. It 
should contain besides their ages, their parents' names 
and addresses, and their attendance or nonattendance 
at kindergarten. This information is needed by the 
department secretary and superintendent. It should 
be kept in duplicate record books, or in a card cata- 
logue accessible to both. In large departments, where 
the assistants have groups of children in charge, they 
should be furnished with record books or duplicate 



114 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

cards containing this information about the children 
for whom they are accountable. 

When a class is promoted from the Cradle Roll this 
information is handed over from the " Cradle Roll 
superintendent to the Beginners' secretary. When a 
child does not enter from the Cradle Roll the infor- 
mation is obtained by the secretary from the person 
who brings him. Little children are often brought to 
visit before they are ready to become members of the 
class. The secretary finds out whether they are 
merely visitors before enrolling them. 

The parents' names and addresses are necessary for 
a calling list and to use in sending notices, messages, 
and folders to absentees. The ages and week-day edu- 
cation of the children form a basis for promotion and 
influence teaching methods. 

2. (For the children.) Children may show Cradle 
Roll certificates on entering the department, and take 
great pride in doing so. This occurs only when a class 
is promoted on Promotion Day. Ordinarily, children 
enter the Beginners' Department singly, when they are 
old enough, not waiting for Promotion Day. A new 
member may be given an attractive card on which his 
name has been written by the secretary, following 
which is printed "is one of the children in the Begin- 
ners' Department of the church." The secre- 
tary has these cards on hand every Sunday. Instead., 
he may be shown his name, which the secretary has 
written on a birthday record or membership chart, 



Methods for Teachers of Begiruiers 115 

and stick a colored seal next it. All these methods 
give him a sense of membership. 

3. (For the parents.) A class of children pro- 
moted from the Cradle Roll on Promotion Day may 
carry home notes to the parents expressing the Begin- 
ners' teacher's pleasure in welcoming them to the 
school, and her hope for cooperation. A Mother's 
Letter, forming a part of the syndicate Graded Les- 
sons equipment, outlines the Beginners' lessons and 
suggests the mother's cooperation. When a child en- 
ters the department by himself, such a letter may be 
given him or his mother, or t the following week a 
personal note may be sent to the parents. 

4. (For the school.) The names and addresses of 
the children who enter are given the school secretary 
by the department secretary. 

Records of attendance. — 1. (For the teachers.) 
The secretary keeps the attendance record in a depart- 
ment record book, which is accessible to the superin- 
tendent, or copies the record into the superintendent's 
book, and each week she gives the assistants a list of 
the absent children for whom they are accountable. 
These records are kept for a more vital purpose than 
to compute the average attendance. Folders are sent 
each week to absentees. Causes for absence are dis- 
covered through calls, telephoning, notes, or inquiries. 
Where there is no sufficient reason for absence efforts 
are made to encourage better attendance. A card 
showing a vacant chair in a circle is sent a child, or 
a call is paid. 



116 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

2. (For the children.) Any plan for the children 
to record their attendance must take a minimum of 
time, or it should be abandoned. Many teachers prefer 
to make much of children's presence through the 
greeting, and speak then of those who are absent. It 
is. feasible to have a chart containing the children's 
names on which each child pastes a sticker as he enters 
the room. ^\fter the session has begun the chart is 
removed by an assistant, and the tardy childrqn paste 
on their stickers at the door. Otherwise the program 
is interrupted. However, at an age when contagious 
diseases, bad weather, and distance prevent perfect 
attendance, absences should be regretted rather than 
censured. It is not usually the children's fault when 
they are absent. 

3. (For the parents.) For this very reason the 
parents' cooperation is needed, and reports of their 
.children's attendance will show them that their efforts 

in getting their children to the church school are appre- 
ciated, or their' negligence in this matter noticed. 
These reports may be oral, given when calling or tele- 
phoned. They may be written on .postals. They may 
be printed forms filled in. Their value lies in the 
regularity with which they are given — monthly or 
quarterly. !j 

4. (For the school.) The attendance of the de- 
partment may be given to the school secretary by 
means of the card system, a card for each child. 

Records of offerings. — 1. (For the teachers.) The 
records of offerings should be kept in the same book 






Methods for Teachers of Beginners 117 

with the attendance, and the amounts given by the 
treasurer to the secretary when these offices are sepa- 
rate. Often a second offering or a birthday offering 
is taken, which is in charge of the department, and 
not paid into the school treasury. The causes to which 
this special fund goes should be recorded. 

2. (For the children.) Occasionally thrpughout 
the year the treasurer will review with the children the 
records of their offerings. An offering chart or set of 
mounted pictures makes a concrete record — showing 
a Christmas tree to represent the one given to the 
Children's Home, or a basket of food to record the 
Thanksgiving present, and a plant to recall the Easter 
plant that was bought. 

3. (For the parents.) As the offerings are really 
made by the parents, they will be interested to look 
over the secretary's records or the children's chart, 
as they visit the school. 

4. (For the school.) Records of special gifts 
made in this extra offering are given to the school 
treasurer at the close of the year. 

Public records. — Some Beginners' and Primary 
Departments make out an attractive summary of their 
year's work, illustrating it with photographs, for the 
children to keep and for the church people. This 
gives an idea of what is being done for the youngest 
children, and arouses interest and often assistance. 
The adults of the church always enjoy entertainments 
given by these children, and many of them feel ag- 
grieved because the modern system of religious edu- 



118 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



cation keeps them in a separate department, and 
permits no opening exercises of the whole school, in 
which they can be viewed, laughed at, and admired. 
These public records help to explain the importance 
of the attempt of the church school to give the young- 
est children the right sort of religious education. 

Private records. — The records that most truly 
record the condition of the class cannot be made 
public. They are usually not written down at all, 
but are kept in the teacher's heart. Occasionally these 
records are given orally to the assistants or the mother. 
A rare teacher will keep a private record for her own 
satisfaction. It will run something like this : 

Janet. Less shy. Expressed love of God as she 
listened to the story. 

Robert. More helpful. Forgets himself when a 
younger child needs assistance. 

Alice. Growing unruly. Will try seating her beside 
a younger child to watch. Later. This worked, and 
in giving care she had no wish to misbehave. 

John. Expresses himself best through drawing. 
Showed fine idea of hospitality by this means. 

Sarah, Seems secretive. Later. She confided in 
me about her new brother. Since then she has talked 
more. 

Such a record strikes the very heart of the matter, 
but good taste and fine feeling will prevent a teacher 
from sharing it with any except those vitally inter- 
ested. Its items will never be made the subject of 
common talk. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 119 



Recognition. — The Beginners will not receive 
recognition in the form of marks or credits for the 
work done in the department. Bible stories retold or 
Bible verses repeated correctly will not be recorded. 
For children under six this is not desirable. Memori- 
zation and self-expression are not accounted duties 
here. There is recognition of birthdays, and of atten- 
dance, as has been said, but of nothing else. 

A warning. — A warning is needed, lest a student 
gain the idea that an unrecorded achievement is 
worthless. No Beginners' teacher ought to spend 
time making records that might better be used in pre- 
paring her lessons, or improving her surroundings, or 
becoming better acquainted with her children. Record- 
keeping is principally the work of the secretary, who 
turns over her records to the teacher and her assis- 
tants. Through simple records they gain the ability 
to evaluate their work, and to improve it. 

Questions 

i. What is the advantage of records? 

2. Discuss records of membership (i) for the 
teacher, (2) for the children, (3) for the parents, (4) 
for the school. 

3. Discuss in the same way records of attendance. 

4. Discuss records of offerings. 

5. What do you mean by public records? 

6. What private records may be kept? 

7. For what do Beginners receive recognition? 

8. What warning is necessary? 



120 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

LESSON XIV 
STANDARDS FOR PROMOTION 



Teaching is, after all, the adaptation of our methods to the 
normal development of boys and girls, and their education can 
be measured only in terms of the changes which we are able 
to bring about in knowledge, skill, appreciation, reasoning, and 
the like. — Strayer and Norsworthy in How to Teach. 

It is not necessary, or even desirable, that the child's gen- 
eral ideas shall be definite and accurate at this time (three to 
six), but that they shall be started in the right direction. — 
E. A. Kirkpatrick, in The Individual in the Making. 



Fake standards. — Standards for promotion should 
not be considered primarily as standards of know- 
ledge. A certain amount of knowledge enters in, but 
the amount of a child's knowledge is not the reason 
for promoting him to the Primary Department. He 
may, through lack of regular attendance, know very 
few of the stories, or Bible verses, or songs, and still 
be eligible for promotion. 

•Nor is the test the length of time he has spent in 
the Beginners' Department. He may have attended 
only one of the two years, and be ready for promotion. 
He may have attended only a few months. There may 
be some children in the Primary class he enters who 
have never attended the Beginners' Department. Be- 
cause of this possibility, the course of study in the 
International Primary first grade repeats the principal 
themes of the Beginners' Course. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 121 



The standard of age. — The chief basis for promo- 
tion is age. At six, or approximately six, the children 
are ready to enter the Primary Department. The nor- 
mal child of six is better off there, even though he has 
missed the Beginners' stories, and the ideas presented 
in them. 

At six the methods of the Beginners' Department 
are inappropriate and outgrown. Toward the close 
of a year there are usually one or more precocious 
children who show signs of this. They chafe at wait- 
ing for the little ones' remarks or attempts at story- 
telling. They refuse to play. They are eager to be 
prominent. They are inclined to show off. Many a 
child who has been a real trial becomes amenable when 
transferred to the Primary Department. 

This promotion will occur on the annual Promotion 
Day. 

The standard of day-school attendance. — Atten- 
dance upon school is another standard for promotion 
which qualifies the test of age. A child who is not 
quite six but has commenced school should be pro- 
moted and be in Primary Grade I, which corresponds 
to a similar school grade. 

This standard is difficult to set up, as frequently 
little children commence school but drop out after a 
few weeks. The question will then arise whether they 
shall be put back in the Beginners' Department. 

The standard of play. — This will depend some- 
what upon their playmates. Play grades children. 
The children they select as playmates are the ones 



122 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



that are usually fitted to be their classmates. Thus 
age and school attendance may need to be qualified by 
the test of play. Upon these three tests will depend 
their promotion. The final test applied in each indi- 
vidual case will be what the child needs to make him 
"a complete human being.'' 

Stories and Bible verses. — As was said, promo- 
tion is not dependent upon the amount of knowledge 
gained. It is a satisfaction to most teachers to know 
that their children are familiar with certain Bible 
stories and can repeat certain Bible verses. To one 
type of mind a list of Bible verses to "pass on" seems 
desirable. 

There is no such passing test from the kindergarten 
to the first grade, in the public-school system. A 
kindergartner would dislike to have her children leave 
her, knowing they had missed certain of the best 
stories and verses and songs of childhood, yet to list 
these as a basis of promotion would seem absurd. 

A Beginners' teacher may wisely list the most im- 
portant Bible and nature stories and the Bible verses 
that best express a little child's religion. These she 
uses more often than other stories and verses that 
possess only a passing value. If such a story occurs 
on a Sunday when the attendance is small, she may 
omit a less important story the following Sunday, and 
substitute this. Such stories she retells often, and re- 
fers to frequently. The most childlike Bible verses she 
uses repeatedly, as an expression of thought. She is 
thus making sure of certain knowledge for her chil- 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 123 

dren. The children to be promoted are kept in mind, 
and she often considers them in this way: "I must 
find out whether John's mother read him the baby 
Moses story we had when he was absent/' "Mary 
doesn't seem to be interested in the Nativity picture. I 
must retell the story." "Sara looked stupid when I 
suggested finding a picture about 'Be ye kind one to 
another.' I must try it again." "Helen missed the 
spring nature stories, and evidently they were not read 
her at home. I will stop in and tell them to her some 
day." 

Religious ideas. — These most important stories 
are not selected only for the appeal of the incidents, 
but for the ideas they convey. The Bible verses that 
a teacher most wants her children to know are those 
that express a fundamental truth or command, or an 
appropriate prayer. 

The ideas that make up a little child's religion are 
well expressed in the Standard for a Beginners' De- 
partment. 

i. Knowledge of the power of God, to give love, 
protection and care. 

2. A consciousness of God as his heavenly Father 
and Jesus Christ as his friend. 

3. Ideals of right conduct. 

All through the year the teacher is trying to give 
her children these ideas. As the year draws near its 
close she tests the individual children to be promoted 
by such comments as the following: "Did the light 
way John replied 'God' to my question indicate that I 



124 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

was tedious, or that he hasn't a real sense of God and 
love of him?" "Lucy's frequent notice of the pictures 
of Jesus prove her friendship for him/' "Harry needs 
more nature teaching. He sees no connection be- 
tween nature and God, and exhibits little wonder." 
"Ruth's use of 'God is love/ when I asked for verses 
about God's taking care, shows she has the right idea 
of that verse." "Robert was able to make a keen 
distinction between those who are doing right and 
those who are doing wrong in the story picture." 
"Maud's face is often in itself an indication of her 
love of God." "I must help Barbara gain more sense 
of God's power behind her parents. They seem all- 
sufficient to her." 

Such individual consideration is possible with the 
class to be promoted, when it might not be with the 
entire department. In very large departments the 
assistants can help in this, and talk over the children 
with the teacher from their angle. The teacher's pri- 
vate records, mentioned in the last lesson, help vastly 
in this regard. 

Conduct. — The object of the teacher's work is, 
of course, the conduct of her children, and this is the 
final test of her success. She will therefore look very 
carefully at the conduct of the class to be promoted, 
and test this also by the Standard for a Beginners' 
Department. 

The conduct of a Beginner may manifest: 
I. Love, trust and reverence for God/ 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 125 

2. Association of the heavenly Father with daily- 
life. 

3. Right behavior. 

4. Love for God through prayer, praise, and effort 
to please him. 

5. Love for others through acts of helpfulness. 

The teacher watches for evidence of these things in 
the class to be promoted. She cannot bear to send 
any child into the Primary Department without the 
sense of God as an every-day Helper and a wonderful 
Father. She looks for an attitude in prayer, in praise 
songs, and during stories about God which proves 
that this is so. She sometimes suggests that the chil- 
dren ask the heavenly Father to help them be good. 

She tests their behavior individually. She looks for 
an improvement in obedience, in willingness to give up 
to others, and especially in helpfulness. If she were 
asked to put in a nutshell the great idea she has tried 
to give them, she would say, "Consciousness of God," 
and for the great virtue she has tried to develop would 
name helpfulness. Her task seems to her to be mainly 
teaching about God, and training in service. She 
watches eagerly for evidences of these things in the 
class to be promoted. 

Promotion service. — A service based upon this 
conception of tests for the promoted class will be in 
the nature of a service and not an examination. A 
story may be told by the teacher and children, not at 
all to show how well they know it, but eagerly, to 



126 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

give the audience the pleasure the story gives them. 
Story pictures may be shown and Bible verses re- 
peated that explain them, not with the appearance of 
reciting something they know well, but of telling about 
their beloved pictures. They will sing to praise, or 
pray, or express a thought — never to "sing well." 
Such a service is worthy the name, and actually it is 
passing a test — of love of God and consciousness of his 
care, of ideals of goodness, of friendship for Jesus, of 
happy-hearted delight in their religion. A word of 
interpretation will assist parents and friends to appre- 
ciate such a service. 

Influencing the children's attitude. — Children are 
so suggestible that it is easy for a teacher to make 
promotion to the Primary Department seem desirable 
or something to be dreaded. No doubt it will be hard 
for her to part with them, but if she is honestly inter- 
ested in their welfare she will rejoice that they are 
ready to be advanced. She begins several weeks be- 
fore Promotion Day to talk to them alone and as a 
group about being promoted and arouses keen antici- 
pation. It comes to be considered an honor to belong 
to the graduating class. She regards it as a high com- 
pliment when an eager little face looks up into hers 
and she is told, "I can hardly wait to go." And if a 
timid child clings to her and confides her longing to 
stay, she does not yield to a weak enjoyment of the 
child's afTection, but paints a glowing picture of the 
new room and arranges some way for her to become 
acquainted with the new teacher. The Beginners' 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 127 

teacher is ambitious to send out a class enthusiastic 
and expectant. 

Questions 

i. What is the standard age for promotion to the 
Primary Department? Give exceptions. 

2. What effect has attendance at school upon pro- 
motion ? 

3. What is meant by the standard of play? 

4. How does a wise teacher regard a child's know- 
ledge of Bible stories and verses? 

5. How can she test her children's religious ideas? 

6. How can she test their conduct? 

7. Write out a Promotion Service. 

8. How should a teacher influence the children's 
attitude toward promotion? 

Problems for Discussion 

A. Whether a child five and a quarter years old 
who has entered school shall be promoted with chil- 
dren of six. 

B. Whether to promote a child of six well devel- 
oped physically but not mentally. 

C. What can be done for a child who, according 
to age and school attendance, should be promoted, but 
whose religious ideas and conduct are not satisfactory. 



128 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



LESSON XV 
PLANNING FOR SPECIAL DAYS 

What- is any festival to a child? It is what he remembers 
it to have been; his delighted expectation reflects past pleas- 
ures. — Florence Hull Winterburn, in From the Child's Stand- 
point. 

The special days. — Any course of lessons for Be- 
ginners recognizes the importance of the great festi- 
val days— Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. These 
festival days not only determine the lessons that pre- 
cede and follow them, but Easter and Christmas Sun- 
days are usually celebrated by the church school, and 
frequently the Beginners are given a part in this gen- 
eral celebration. In some schools there is also a 
general Thanksgiving service on the Sunday preceding 
Thanksgiving. Children's Day, the second Sunday in 
June, is set apart as the Sunday in which the children 
take part in the morning service, or have a special 
service later in the day. Promotion Day is still 
another of the church-school special days. 

Their abuse. — Special days are either dreaded or 
anticipated by both teachers and children. That they 
are strong influences in the church-school year is 
proved by the intensity of the feeling in regard to 
them. It is also true that the teacher who enjoys 
showing off her children may anticipate these days and 
the children who do not enjoy being shown off may 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 129 

dread them. It is true, again, that some children who 
dote on making recitations may look forward to a cer- 
tain type of celebration the teacher disapproves. The 
manner of observing these special days determines 
their value or abuse. 

They are abused when they are allowed to over- 
shadow the Sundays between, which are made to seem 
unimportant except as preparatory to these red-letter 
days. In some schools, as soon as Thanksgiving is 
over, drills upon Christmas songs begin; Easter reci- 
tations and songs precede Easter by many weeks : and 
September is devoted to preparation for Promotion 
Dav. 

This conception of the festival days as times for 
display is an abuse of them. A public performance in 
which little children entertain adults is a celebration 
for the adults, but not for the children. Children who 
are shy suffer tortures, particularly as they often make 
slips which cause laughter. Children who are forward 
are not made less so by public appearances. When the 
preparation consists of tedious rehearsals and drills it 
takes away the educational value of these special days 
for the children, and the delight and enthusiasm they 
ought to arouse. 

Preserving their value. — Their value is retained 
when they* are observed. by services rather than per- 
formances, and w r hen these services are childlike and 
entered into with joy by the children. For such 
services there is no drilling, but the songs and verses 
and stories are used in the spirit of services as truly 



130 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

in preparation as upon the festival days. They are 
familiar through constant use as expressions of feel- 
ing, not through many empty repetitions for the sake 
of knowing them perfectly. The thoughts of the chil- 
dren are not upon their appearance or upon the audi- 
ence, but upon the words they say, or the songs they 
sing, or the stories they tell. 

These days are red-letter days, because their obser- 
vance is childlike and natural and joyous. The prepa- 
ration is a preparation of interest and of thought, not 
of memorizing words to be "rendered." No particular 
child is allowed to feel himself prominent, but the 
children understand that each one is a contributor to 
the continued story told by Bible verses, poems, and 
songs, or to the chorus of praise, or to the seasonal 
song sung together. It is perfectly possible for these 
little children to have a part appropriate to them, and 
the modern departmentalized school needs to get 
together occasionally to gain esprit de corps. It is 
equally true that no department should be forced to 
take part in a celebration to which it contributes, but 
from which it receives nothing. Nobody would con- 
sider asking the Junior Department to sing at a service 
of stories and songs suitable for Beginners, yet the 
Beginners are often expected to take part in services 
in which the appeal is far above them. There should 
be at least a story for them, and they should usually 
be taken to their own room after their part of the 
service. 

The time of celebration. — The preceding para- 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 131 



graphs apply to celebrations of the entire school, in 
which the Beginners have a part. There is no special 
day, except perhaps Children's Day, whose value for 
little children is not diminished by giving up their 
entire class session for a general service. They may 
share in the beginning or end of a service that is 
held for the entire school, but their own class session, 
particularly on a special day, should not be sacrificed. 
If it is, this is done because the older members of the 
school wish to be entertained or to exhibit a large 
school, not for the sake of the children themselves. 
It is in their own room in their own class session that 
Christmas and Thanksgiving and Easter can be inter- 
preted according to their understanding, and give joy 
and occasion for delightful memories. Parents and 
friends can be invited to share in this special-day 
session, when they will find the children most natural 
and most charming. 

An afternoon service for the entire school can be 
shared by little children. They should have no part 
in an evening service. It is pure exploitation to keep 
children up beyond then- bedtime at a high nervous 
tension to entertain an audience of adults. 

The Beginners' Department can join with the Pri- 
mary Department, and possibly with the Junior De- 
partment also, in brief opening or closing services on 
a special day, and still have the major part of the time 
for their own session. 

Thanksgiving. — In the Beginners' Course 
Thanksgiving is the climax of the autumn lessons. 



132 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

If the children take part in any school service, it will 
be by a song or by saying Bible verses that have been 
used frequently in the department, after which they 
return immediately to their room. 

A school gift of fruit and vegetables forms an appro- 
priate Thanksgiving observance, and the little children 
can join in this, and march into the main room, each 
bringing his gift. 

Such a harvest gift can be made as a department, or 
with the Primary Department, and will make the day 
unforgetable for the children. 

Christmas. — Christmas is the high light of the 
children's year. Its joy must be preserved for them, 
and to do that they must be protected from exploitation 
and undue excitement. Nothing, as was said, can 
interpret Christmas as well for them as their own 
class session. If the school meets together for a 
special opening service, the Beginners will happily sing 
their Christmas song, and help their teacher tell the 
Christmas story, or the story of their Christmas gifts. 
In one such brief, opening service, a certain Begin- 
ners' class proudly displayed a tiny Christmas tree 
hung with colored silk bags of money for the hungry 
children of Armenia. With intense interest they told 
what food each little bag represented, as the teacher 
touched them one by one, and so it became a magical 
tree to all, hung with bottles of milk, loaves of bread, 
candy, cookies, and sugar. Thus the spirit of giving 
was made a feature of the Christmas service. 

A Christmas Sundav service at another hour may 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 133 

include a little children's song that is familiar through 
long use, but unless a story suitable for them is pro- 
vided, they will neither be benefited by the rest of the 
service, nor add to the reverent atmosphere. 

There should be a week-day story-hour or Christ- 
mas-tree party. If this is for the Beginners alone, or 
the Beginners and Primary children, stories, games, 
gifts, or no gifts and simple refreshments will make 
up the program. 

In some schools the Christmas tree is for the entire 
school, and the various departments furnish the enter- 
tainment. The Beginners will delight in this, provided 
their part does not consist of wearisome recitations. 
They can act in pantomime parts of a Christmas story 
told by the teacher, for example, representing the 
snowflakes, the wind and the trees in "The Promise," 
from The Story-Teller, by Maud Lindsay. They can 
chop down a tree in pantomime, set it up, hang it 
with imaginary gifts, and show in pantomime what 
these gifts are, which the audience guess. They can 
represent the toys in the toy-shop, also to be guessed. 
In such ways they enjoy themselves thoroughly, are 
under no tension, and delight the audience by their 
naturalness. 

Easter. — Easter is not a festival in which little 
children should appear conspicuously. The Easter ap- 
peal is not the same for them as for older pupils. 
They may sing an Easter song of nature's awakening, 
or march into the main room with their gift of a plant 
or flowers. They must not on any account miss their 



134 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



- 



own class session, because they need to have immor- 
tality explained in a very simple way on this day. 

One school had the lesson periods of the three lower 
departments come first, followed by a closing service 
together. The Beginners entered with a plant they 
had bought as an Easter gift, and sang an Easter 
greeting and an Easter nature song, each child repre- 
senting a flower that "lifts up its head to say, 'It's 
Easter Day, glad Easter Day.' " The Primary chil- 
dren with their teacher told a story that the Beginners 
could understand, and the Juniors presented to the 
Beginners and Primary children Easter gifts that they 
had made. 

Children's day. — On the children's own day they 
will naturally have a part. It may be a simple con- 
tinued story, told in Bible verses, songs, poems and 
perhaps a story. It may be simply a group of songs. 
It may be a circle talk, conducted on the same plan 
as those in the class sessions. It will at any rate be 
childlike, and given in the joyous and unconscious 
spirit that accompanies anything familiar and well 
understood, and that is absent from a mere perfor-, 
mance laboriously rehearsed. 

Promotion day. — The Beginners' graduating 
class should of course be included in the Promotion 
service. Their part will be retelling stories and Bible 
verses and singing songs that have been frequently 
used in their department. These may be so arranged 
as to give an idea to the adults of the scope of a little 
child's religion, though the children themselves will 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 135 

have no idea of anything mofe than sharing favorite 
stories, verses, and songs. 

Recognizing the danger. — The danger every Be- 
ginners' teacher needs to recognize and to guard 
against is that the value of these special days may be 
lost for the children through the part they are given 
in their celebration, and that the preparation for them 
may degenerate into mere drill and rehearsal. Their 
function is not attained when the children are expected 
simply to make these days interesting to older people, 
often at a sacrifice of naturalness and joy. Older peo- 
ple may still be entertained by attending festival cele- 
brations in which the children take part with un- 
affected childlikeness, in real religious services. 
Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Children's Day, and 
Promotion Day are all important influences in the 
religious education of little children. 

Questions 

i. Name the special days celebrated by the church 
school. 

2. Describe how they may be abused. 

3. How should their value be preserved? 

4. How can departments combine in observing 
these days? 

5. Describe Thanksgiving observances. 

6. How may Christmas be celebrated? 

7. What is an appropriate observance of Easter? 

8. What principles should determine the obser- 
vance of Children's Day? 

9. What part can Beginners have in Promotion 
Day? 



136 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



10. What dangers should a teacher guard against? 
Problems for Discussion 

A. How to insure appropriate observance of spe- 
cial days when this observance is in the hands of a 
committee who do not share the ideals of the Begin- 
ners' teacher. 

B. Preventing an audience from showing amused 
pleasure at the children's part in a service. 

C. Getting the children together for any necessary 
rehearsing. 

D^ How through these special days to give the chil- 
dren a joyous sense of belonging to the large school. 

E. How to convince the church-school officers who 
want to see the whole school together that this may 
be done on special days, but would be an injustice to 
the children if it occurred frequently. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 137 

LESSON XVI 
HOME COOPERATION 

The home life of a child is usually a determining factor in 
his religious and moral reactions. — Hugh Hartshorne, in 
Childhood and Character. 

Its importance. — The teacher of Beginners needs 
home cooperation more than the teacher of any other 
grade, because, with the exception of the minority who 
attend kindergarten, her children's entire time is spent 
at home. In Lesson XII it was said that she could 
only expect to start something which might be con- 
tinued in the homes. In a sense this is so with any 
teacher. The short church-school session admits of 
no completed work. In fact, the object of the teach- 
ing is to interpret life, and the pupils' response must 
come in their daily actions. With older pupils home 
is only one of several environments in which they 
figure. With little children home is the only field of 
action. Teachers, schoolmates and various outside 
people wield as strong an influence upon, older chil- 
dren as their parents do. Parents are the supreme 
influence in little children's lives. Thus it is easily 
seen that without the sympathetic cooperation of 
parents, or at least of mothers, a Beginners' teacher 
finds her hands tied. 

Co-operation in making attendance regular. — In 
the first place, the children's attendance is absolutely 



138 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



dependent upon the parents. They cannot come to the 
church school alone, they must be taken home, and a 
parent is usually obliged to stay with a newcomer 
during the first few sessions. 

The children are likely to assist in this special 
cooperation. They nearly always enjoy going to Sun- 
day school. It is usually their first adventure into the 
big world outside their homes. It forms the subject 
of much conversation at home. "Is today Sunday?" 
is a common question, and a disappointing answer 
brings another — "Will tomorrow be?" It is an ex- 
ceptionally indifferent parent who is not pleased with 
this display of interest and anxious to gratify it. Even 
the indifferent parent will do so in the interests of 
peace. What a little child wants he wants very much, 
and is perfectly free to say so. 

A shy child may need to have his interest stimulated. 
In this case the mother makes the Beginners' class the 
subject of frequent comment. If she is wise, she will 
continue regular attendance until her child's timidity 
has changed to interest. 

The teacher's friendly personality and her manner 
of conducting the class are, of course, the determining 
factors in gaining the children's interest. Her atti- 
tude toward the mothers who bring their children is 
as great a factor in securing their cooperation. Her 
unassumed interest in their children and enthusiasm 
over her work will predispose them to cooperate. 

They need, however, not merely a general impres- 
sion of interest and capability on the teacher's part. 






Methods for Teachers of Beginners 139 

They need to realize their own responsibility and her 
dependence upon them. Many a teacher is satisfied 
with the flattering comments of mothers who admire 
her teaching ability. She should turn about and con- 
fess the inadequacy of her work unless supplemented 
by theirs. She can particularly emphasize the need of 
regular attendance, especially to a parent who does not 
realize its importance. The parents who accompany 
their children will be most likely to appreciate this. 
In Lesson XIII the suggestion was made of reports 
on attendance to be sent to the parents at regular 
intervals. 

Co-operation in the class session. — Parents, espe- 
cially mothers, always form a part of the class atten- 
dance. Their presence should be a help. It is fre- 
quently a hindrance. Mothers who exhibit a critical 
attitude are a real trial to any teacher, particularly to 
one who is young and inexperienced. Mothers who 
whisper and visit with one another spoil any session. 
Mothers who comment upon the children and make 
them self-conscious by laughing at their quaint re- 
marks are a real menace to effective teaching. 

It is safe to say that this lack of cooperation is not 
intentional, and can be overcome by the teacher. The 
young teacher who is awed by a critical attitude should 
neither ignore nor endure it, but take the bull by the 
horns, frankly confess her difficulty, and ask for as- 
sistance. Mothers who assist in the circle or are 
occasionally appointed to tell the story will not sit on 
the critic's bench, which belongs to loafers. Whisper- 



140 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

ing mothers will respond to a tactful request before the 
session for assistance in keeping the atmosphere one 
of interest and order. If this does not work, a sugges- 
tion to the children for silence, "so that I can hear the 
clock tick," will induce mothers to share in this silence. 
A teacher who tells parents of the difficulty she her- 
self has in invariably treating the children's comments 
with seriousness, however amusing they may be, will 
help them to see the necessity of this self-control. 
However, to give mothers some responsibility in the 
session will best secure their cooperation. 

Co-operation in use of teaching material; — The 
children carry home folders containing the stories they 
have listened to, and will enjoy hearing again and 
again. It lies entirely with their parents or some 
older member of the family whether they shall have 
this pleasure during the week, and thus whether the 
stories shall achieve their full purpose. Parents, who 
are so often called upon to tell stories, should look 
upon this as a delightful way of solving the problem 
of stories to tell. A teacher can do much to help 
them look at the matter in this light — as stories to be 
told and enjoyed, not as lessons to be learned. She 
can suggest that the bedtime or late afternoon story- 
hour shall include the last church-school story, or one 
of the well-beloved older ones, and that Bible stories 
will bear as frequent repetition as favorite nursery 
tales. 

There are Bible verses and often words of songs in 
these folders, which parents can teach. " A teacher 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 141 



should put frankly before the parents the impossibilit} 
of teaching the words of songs in the brief time 
allotted her. She can suggest that these songs be said 
or sung at bedtime. She should also explain the use 
of the Bible verses in appropriate connections, rather 
than as mere recitations — as grace at meals, as addi- 
tional prayers, as comments upon nature, daily com- 
forts, pictures, and Bible stories. 

Helping the children remember. — During the 
course of a year the teacher asks the children to bring 
various things to Sunday school. Sometimes these are 
objects of nature, sometimes flowers or toys to give 
away, sometimes pictures to illustrate a seasonal les- 
son, sometimes extra money for a special cause. 

She does not trust to the children's memory, but 
gives them something to take home as a reminder — 
notes or papers on which they have drawn the flowers 
or toys or pieces of money they expect to bring, with 
an explanation written above. 

The mother's cooperation is needed here or such 
messages accomplish nothing. 

Giving opportunities for self-expression. — Most 
important is the parents' cooperation in giving their 
children opportunities to express the lesson teachings 
in daily life. In the folders published by the syndicate 
a section entitled "The Mother's Part" gives sugges- 
tions of this sort, for example, that care of pets, or 
helpfulness to parents, or hospitality be emphasized. 
A printed message is often overlooked. It needs to be 
reenforced by the teacher's word. This can be done 



142 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 






after the session, to the group of mothers who are 
ready to take the children home. Notes pinned to the 
children's coats may ask for this important home 
cooperation. They will be simple, straightforward re- 
quests, such as, "Will you give John an opportunity to 
care for a pet or wild birds or squirrels ?" "I hope 
Mary may be given some household tasks this week/' 
"Will you encourage such games as house and dolls ?" 
"A good additional bedtime story can be found 
in ." 

Imagine the lasting influence of a child's first lessons 
in religion if they were continued at home in such 
ways. With older children who attend public school 
and have other outside interests, there can be no single, 
dominant thought running through a week. A little 
child's week can be a continuous impression of the 
Sunday thought, but only with the sympathetic and 
energetic cooperation of the parents. 

The teacher in such a case is merely one who directs 
the course of religious education, who gives new im- 
pulses and fresh ideas and arouses feeling. What is 
more natural than that the parents, and particularly 
the mothers, should re-emphasize these ideas, and fos- 
ter the impulses, and encourage expression of the 
feeKngs throughout the week? 

Children so educated will always associate feeling 
with action. They will gain the habit of carrying ideas 
and impulses into life. 

How to gain co-operation. — There needs to be 
some systematic plan to gain the cooperation of the 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 143 



parents. One method is to form a Parents-Teacher 
Association, composed of the parents and teachers of 
the Beginners', Primary, and possibly also the Junior 
Departments. An important part of the work of this 
association should be a study of the lesson courses. 
Each year new members will come in, and so each 
year the general plan of the courses should be ex- 
plained by some officer or teacher, or the director of 
religious education, and the particular lessons ex- 
plained by a department superintendent to the parents 
most concerned. A mother will take pains to assist 
at home in lessons which are familiar to her, and the 
importance of which she sees. Child study and dis- 
cussions of parents' problems may also be considered 
in this association, and will aid in gaining the insight 
of parents and their assistance. 

Where there is no such formal organization, there 
can still be frequent conferences between the teachers 
and mothers of the Beginners. The best results come 
from holding these at stated times, and considering 
the lessons and problems immediately ahead. At least 
quarterly conferences with parents should be held, in 
order to keep the interest alive and the cooperation 
constant. 

Printed letters accompany one Beginners' course, 
to induce cooperation, but any such formal aid needs 
the personal equation to make it an entire success. 

In calls and chance meetings with the children's 
mothers the truly enthusiastic teacher will show how 
important as well as interesting she considers her work. 



144 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

She will discuss the children and what she is trying to 
do at that particular time, and so gain sympathy on the 
mothers' part. She will gain as much as she will give 
by these conversations, for the mothers will tell her 
of the response of their children to her teachings, and 
help her to know their particular needs. Cooperation 
with parents means not only continuous education for 
the children, and aid to the parent, but important help 
for the teacher. 

Questions 

1. Why is home cooperation particularly necessary 
for Beginners ? 

2. How is attendance dependent upon cooperation? 

3. How can the mothers' cooperation during the 
class session be secured? 

4. What cooperation is desirable in the use of 
teaching material? 

5. In what ways do mothers need to assist chil- 
dren's memories? 

6. What opportunities can parents give for carry- 
ing out the lesson truths ? 

7. Through what means can home cooperation 
be secured? 









Methods for Teachers of Beginners 145 

LESSON XVII 
PLANS FOR CONFERENCES 

In the direction of the work within a given department the 
principal will call meetings of the staff of that department. — 
Walter S. Athearn, in The Organization and Administration 
of the Church School. 

It is frequently vedp helpful to call meetings of the workers 
in two adjacent departments. Let each department tell the 
other just what it is trying to do, what methods it is using 
and why, and what other teachers may reasonably expect their 
graduates will be and know. — Ibid. 

Three or four times a year the superintendent may profit- 
ably assemble all his workers, including the committee on 
education, principals of departments, teachers, officers, leaders 
of all clubs and societies, and officers of all clubs, societies and 
organized classes. This group is sometimes called the school 
council. By means of these meetings unity of ideals is pre- 
served. — Ibid. 

Conference of the departmental staff. — There 
should be regular meetings of the departmental staff, 
in order to correlate the work and give esprit de corps. 
It is very important to the atmosphere of the depart- 
ment that the assistants should understand fully the 
aim of the course of lessons and the truth to be im- 
pressed each Sunday. If it is possible, each assistant 
should have a text-book. If not, there should be a 
typewritten outline for each, or one of the printed out- 
lines furnished by the denominational houses. 

At least once a quarter the lessons that are to be 
taught are explained by the department superintendent. 
She inspires her assistants with the importance of the 



146 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



task ahead, points out the results she hopes for, and 
asks them to notice the effect of certain stories. She 
may have original plans to initiate, in which their help 
is needed. Arrangements for one of the special days 
probably need to be made. She consults with the 
pianist about new songs. She takes up any practical 
matters of ventilation or equipment that require atten- 
tion. She goes over the list of absentees with the 
secretary. 

It is, of course, much better if these conferences can 
be held each month. In this case they may be con- 
nected with the Parent-Teacher Association, occurring 
just before or just after a general meeting. The 
mothers will enter freely into the discussions, and the 
explanation of the lessons and their aims will insure 
their cooperation at home. 

Occasionally a superintendent will test the work of 
the department b" throwing out such questions as the 
following : 

Is our department orderly? 

Do the children have opportunities for free expres- 
sion? 

Are we getting into ruts? 

Is our room satisfactory, or are we contented be- 
cause we are used to it? Suppose we enter it as 
strangers and judge it. 

Are we protected from interruptions? 

Are we telling too many stories ? 

Is there enough variety fn our songs? enough repe- 
tition? 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 147 

Do we pray as often as we might? 

In department conferences a book on Beginners' 
methods, similar to this text-book, may be studied, or 
one on child study, or the conference may resolve itself 
into a story-telling class. When this is the case, time 
should still be given to immediate pressing local prob- 
lems. Subjects similar to the following may be reported 
wpon by assistants : 

Seasonal Pictures. 

Better Ventilation. 

Improved Cleanliness of Room. 

Transportation for Children at a Distance. 

Helpful Current Magazine Articles. 

Objects for Offerings. 

Intimate discussions of individual children are often 
a part of these conferences. Here materials may be 
prepared for week-day work, if there is such a club, 
or Christmas presents made for the children. 

Informal conferences will often occur among the 
members of the departmental staff before or after a 
class session or at chance meetings. Indeed, Begin- 
ners' teachers are so enthusiastic they are ready to 
"talk shop" anywhere and at any time. 

Interdepartment conferences. — Each department 
should keep in close touch with the departments just 
below and above it. In a departmentalized school 
there is the danger that each department will be suf- 
ficient unto itself, and that its teaching force will 
regard it as all-important. The work in any depart- 
ment is stronger when it is considered as a single link 



148 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



in a chain. Its teaching force are none the less devoted, 
but they are wiser. Knowing what has been done 
before for the children's religious education, they 
understand what foundation they are building upon, 
and neither make the mistake of assuming too great 
development nor of needless repetition. Knowing 
what is to come after, they are saved from a feverish 
attempt to cram the children with all the knowledge 
they feel they ought to have. 

The Beginners' Department superm en^ent should 
confer with the Cradle Roll superintendent and the 
teacher of the Cradle Roll class, if there is one. Such- 
conferences need not be frequent or formal. Over the 
teacups at the home of the Beginners' superintendent 
is a good place for helpful talks. It is not necessary 
that the whole staff shall be present, although they 
should all be invited. 

The Beginners' superintendent should know whether 
the children who are to come to her are having a 
Cradle Roll course of lessons, such as Object Lessons 
for the Cradle Roll. The teacher of the Cradle 
Roll class gives her any such course to examine, or, 
if these lessons are taught by the mothers at home, the 
Cradle Roll superintendent makes her acquainted 
with it. 

Through these two people she also becomes inter- 
ested in the children who will soon be her pupils, and 
learns something of their home life. The Cradle Roll 
superintendent and teacher gain much from their con- 
tact with her, and she gains their assistance in pre- 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 149 



venting children from entering the Beginners' Depart- 
ment too soon, and their aid in enrolling children 
when they have reached the age of four. By such 
informal conferences the first two links in the chain 
are firmly connected. 

The Beginners' and Primary Departments also need 
conferences. These may be held in connection with 
the Parent-Teacher Association, or the Beginners' 
conference, preceding or following the general pro- 
gram. There is great value in having the mothers of 
both Beginners and Primary children meet with the 
teacher of both departments to study a book on child 
psychology or to practice story-telling. There is en- 
thusiasm in numbers and stimulation in diverse expe- 
riences and points of view. The stafTs of both depart- 
ments will gain from this interchange of thought. 
Sometime during the year the Beginners' Course ought 
to be outlined for the benefit of the Primary teachers, 
and the Primary Course for the benefit of the Begin- 
ners' teachers. A comparison of the two will follow, 
and stories and Bible verses noted that occur in both, 
together with the different appeals. It is particularly 
necessary that the first-grade Primary teacher should 
be familiar with the Beginners' lessons, to know what 
stories the children have heard, and what religious 
ideas she can expect them to have. 

School conferences. — The Beginners' superinten- 
dent, in order to share the ideals of the entire school, 
and to have a voice in its management, should attend 
the occasional conferences of the entire school. She 



150 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

will not feel herself a part of the whole educational 
scheme unless she does so. She will have the oppor- 
tunity here to present the needs of her department. 
She will also realize the needs of the other depart- 
ments to which she sends her children. Other super- 
intendents' ideals may raise hers, and hers may raise 
theirs. These conferences of the general superinten- 
dent, heads of departments, religious education 
committee, and other leaders in the church school are 
necessary for discussions of general policy and man- 
agement, and in order that each department shall have 
equal rights and attention. 

Time for conferences. — This triple program of 
conferences sounds rather difficult for a busy Begin- 
ners' superintendent to carry out. It can be modified, 
however, as has been suggested, by combining some 
items in a single meeting. A year's conferences, re- 
duced to their lowest terms, as follows, ought to be 
possible for any Beginners' teacher: 

Twe school conferences. 

Quarterly Parent-Teacher Association meeting or 
Mothers' Club, preceded by half-hour Beginners' staff 
conference. 

Occasional informal home conferences with the 
Cradle Roll and Primary superintendents. 

Conferences of the right sort are an inspiration and 
a real help, and a devoted Beginners' teacher will find 
time for what is truly helpful. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 151 

Questions 

i. Why are conferences of the departmental staff 
important ? 

2. How often should these be held? 

3. What should constitute the programs ? 

4. What interdepartment conferences are nec- 
essary for Beginners' teachers? 

5. Describe the subjects that may be considered 
with the Cradle Roll superintendent. 

6. What kind of conferences with the Primary 
teacher are helpful? 

7. Why are conferences of the school leaders im- 
portant ? 

8. How many yearly conferences can even a busy 
teacher attend? 

Problems for Discussion 

A. In a department having one teacher and one 
assistant whether it is preferable to hold conferences 
with the Primary teachers of their school, or with 
Beginners' teachers of the community. 

B. When the teachers have little leisure, which 
conferences are most importan" — departmental, inter- 
departmental, or school? 



152 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



LESSON XVIII 

REPORTS ON PRACTICE WORK AND OBSER- 
VATION (I) 

The right spirit for the task. — Specific assign- 
ments and instructions were given last week by your 
instructor for this final test of practice in the teaching 
and conduct of a Beginners' Department. You need 
in addition some general advice concerning the spirit 
in which you approach this task. 

As far as possible forget yourself and the teachers 
of the department and fix your attention upon the 
children. Your great hope is to satisfy their needs 
and arouse their interest, or as an assistant to keep 
the wheels running so smoothly that others may do 
this. 

Prepare thoroughly for your assigned duty, with the 
children always in mind. 

Try not to come to this practice work tired, or ner- 
vous, or late. A good night's rest, an early arrival and 
the conviction that one is well prepared give poise and 
promise success. 

In your observation do not focus your attention 
upon unessential details. Enter into the spirit of the 
department and judge it with a right sense of values. 

Preparation for the first Sunday's work. — Reread 
Lesson I, and Lessons VII or XIII, according as v^u 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 153 



are to take the position of general assistant, secretary, 
or pianist. 

Prepare in a specific manner, according to the in- 
structions you have received. 

Regard this as an initiation of such serious value 
that you need God's help to perform it creditably. 

Making a report. — In your notebooks make two 
headings— " Practice Work" and "Observation. " Un- 
der them put the following subheadings and fill in to 
the best of your ability. Prepare these reports fully 
enough to give orally in class and also to leave with 
your instructor. 



Practice Work as Assistant 
Assignment 

(Whether as secretary, pianist or general assistant.) 



Preparation 

(General, through rereading the lessons indicated, 
and specific, as outlined by your instructor or Begin- 
ners' superintendent.) 



Result 

(A frank statement of your success or failure, as 
you see it. Show where you fell short and knew it. 
Tell any unexpected difficulties that arose, and 
whether you were able to cope with them. Compare 
your anticipation of your work, and its realization.) 



154 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

Notes 

(State how you might have done better. Tell how 
the conditions might have been improved so as to make 
your task easier. Write whether you would enjoy 
such a position permanently.) 

Observation 

What I Particularly Liked and Why. 

What I Particularly Disliked and Why. 

Adjectives which Describe the General Conduct of 
the Department. 

Adjectives which Describe the Department as it 
Might Be Improved. 

What Impressions I Think the Children Received. 

Any Different Impressions They Should Have Re- 
ceived. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 155 



LESSON XJIX 

REPORTS ON PRACTICE WORK AND OBSER- 
VATION (II) 

Preparation for second Sunday's teaching. — Re- 
read the general suggestions in Lesson XVIII for 
practice work and observation. 

Reread Lesson X of this book and the chapter on 
"How to Tell the Story," in Story-Telling, by Cather, 
for specific help in story-telling. 

Prepare your story early in the week. 

Tell it aloud to yourself or to a child, or group of 
children, or students, at least once every day, till it is 
thoroughly your own. 

In the class. — Because the story comes at the end 
©f the session, do not allow yourself to be oblivious 
of the preceding program. The best preparation will 
be to enter into the spirit of the hour and so identify 
yourself with the children that you will long to share 
your story with them. Then it will not seem a task 
to be done, but a chance to give pleasure and help. 

The report. — Forget that you have a report to 
write till you are at home, and then make notes under 
the following headings, while the class session is 
fresh in your mind. 



156 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



Practice in Story-Telling 
Preparation 

(General, through reading the chapters indicated, 
and preparation of the particular story you were as* 
signed to tell.) 

Result 

Did I enjoy telling it? If not, why? 

Did I forget myself ? the children ? 

the story? 

Did the children enjoy it? How do I 

know? 

Did I tell it about as I expected to ? If not, 

what was my reason for making changes? 

Did the children get the impression I intended they 
should? How did I know? 



What did I do after telling it? Why? 

How should I tell it differently another time ? 
Do I expect to tell a story to a child this week? 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 157 

Observation 

Whether I enjoyed the session more or less than 
last week's, and the reason. 

What expressional activities were used and whether 
they were effective. 

The attitude of the children. Whether it might 
have been improved. 

A problem I should like discussed in class. 



158 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 



LESSON XX 

REPORTS ON PRACTICE WORK AND OBSER- 
VATION (III) 

Preparation for third Sunday's teaching. — Reread 
Lesson XI. 

Make an original plan for a circle talk based on the 
lesson truth. 

Compare this with the circle talk in the teacher's 
text-book and combine the best in both. 

Present your plan to the Beginners' superintendent 
for approval. Accept her modification, as she is ac- 
countable for the work done in her department. Come 
to an understanding with her of the changes bound to 
be made because of the children's response and their 
remarks. 

Become familiar with the songs used in the depart- 
ment. * 

Become acquainted with the names of as many 
members of the class as possible. 

Find out exactly the time allowed you. 

Get the items of your proposed program well in 
mind, so no notes will be necessary. 

Prepare any necessary material for handwork. 

Bach day consider the theme of your circle talk, till 
it becomes part of you. 

In the class. — Keep your theme well in mind, so 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 159 



that you will be quick to relate the children's remarks 
to it. 

Carry out your program as planned unless there are 
very good reasons for changing it. It is poor peda- 
gogy to change for the sake of showing you can. 

You are necessarily hampered by not knowing the 
children well, and will have to use the names of those 
you know, and ignore the shy ones. 

If you find you are losing control of the children, 
suggest a change of position, all rising to sing, or give 
crisp orders to stand, rise on tiptoes, turn about, and 
sit. 

Close your part of the program on time, even though 
you have omitted some items. 

Fill out the following outline, as your report : 

Practice in Conducting the Circle Talk 

Preparation 

(General, through reading the chapter suggested, 
and preparation of the particular circle talk assigned.) 

Result 

Was it satisfactory to me? to the children? 

to the superintendent (as far as I could 
judge? 

Did the lesson theme run through the program? 

Did I keep to my tentative program? How 

was it influenced by the children? 



160 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

Was there freedom for the children? an 

atmosphere of order? 

How was I hampered by not knowing the children 
well? 

What reflections on my story-telling arise from the 
children's references to it or their retelling of it? 

Could I have made better use of songs? 
drawing ? 

Was the play spirit a feature of the program? 

Were there any conditions that prevented my doing 
my best? If so, how could they have been 

remedied ? 

Which part of the program did I do best — telling 
the story or conducting the circle talk? 
Which brought me closer to the children? 

Observation 

Comparison of my own story-telling and that of the 
story-teller observed. 

Whether the few moments after the story were as 
effective as they might have been. 

Whether the opening service formed a good prepa- 
ration for my circle talk. 



Methods for Teachers of Beginners 161 

Exactly what feeling the children went home with, 
different from that they had on entering. 

Outline for Summer Observation and Practice 

Work 

Name and Address 

Name of School in which Practice Work is Done 

Subjects for Notes 

(Under each subject make notes on both good and 
poor work you have done or observed. Be explicit 
in every case and suggest remedies where the work 
was poor. Date the notes.) 

Story-Telling 
Practice Work Observation 

The Circle Talk 
Practice Work Observation 

Songs 
Practice Work Observation 

Handwork 
Practice Work Observation 



162 Methods for Teachers of Beginners 

Play 
Practice Work Observation 

Use of Pictures and Objects 
Practice Work Observation 

Relating Children's Remarks to the Themes 
Practice Work Observation 

Prayer 
Practice Work Observation 

Arousing the Missionary Spirit 
Practice Work Observation 

Discipline 
Practice Work Observation 

Week-Day Class 
Practice Work Observation 

Observance of Birthdays 
Practice Work Observation 

Equipment 

General Management 

Other Notes 



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